Are Strong Financial Prospects The Force That Is Driving The Momentum In Argosy Research Inc.'s GTSM:3217) Stock?

Argosy Research (GTSM:3217) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 10% over the last three months. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Argosy Research's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for Argosy Research

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Argosy Research is:

18% = NT$577m ÷ NT$3.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every NT$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn NT$0.18 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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.

Argosy Research's Earnings Growth And 18% ROE

To start with, Argosy Research's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 9.9% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Argosy Research was able to see an impressive net income growth of 32% over the last five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

We then compared Argosy Research's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 9.2% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is Argosy Research fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Argosy Research Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Argosy Research has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 73%, meaning the company only retains 27% of its income. This implies that the company has been able to achieve high earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Additionally, Argosy Research has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Argosy Research's performance. We are particularly impressed by the considerable earnings growth posted by the company, which was likely backed by its high ROE. While the company is paying out most of its earnings as dividends, it has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's probably a good sign. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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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