Declining Stock and Decent Financials: Is The Market Wrong About Channel Well Technology Co.,Ltd. (GTSM:3078)?

Channel Well TechnologyLtd (GTSM:3078) has had a rough three months with its share price down 2.8%. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Specifically, we decided to study Channel Well TechnologyLtd's ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Channel Well TechnologyLtd

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Channel Well TechnologyLtd is:

17% = NT$823m ÷ NT$4.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every NT$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of NT$0.17.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.

Channel Well TechnologyLtd's Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

To start with, Channel Well TechnologyLtd's ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 9.9%. Given the circumstances, we can't help but wonder why Channel Well TechnologyLtd saw little to no growth in the past five years. Based on this, we feel that there might be other reasons which haven't been discussed so far in this article that could be hampering the company's growth. Such as, the company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that the industry grew its earnings by9.2% in the same period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Channel Well TechnologyLtd is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Channel Well TechnologyLtd Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Channel Well TechnologyLtd has a high three-year median payout ratio of 55% (or a retention ratio of 45%), meaning that the company is paying most of its profits as dividends to its shareholders. This does go some way in explaining why there's been no growth in its earnings.

Additionally, Channel Well TechnologyLtd has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth.

Conclusion

On the whole, we do feel that Channel Well TechnologyLtd has some positive attributes. Although, we are disappointed to see a lack of growth in earnings even in spite of a high ROE. Bear in mind, the company reinvests a small portion of its profits, which means that investors aren't reaping the benefits of the high rate of return. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. So it may be worth checking this free detailed graph of Channel Well TechnologyLtd's past earnings, as well as revenue and cash flows to get a deeper insight into the company's performance.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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