Taiwan Alpha Electronic Co., Ltd.'s (GTSM:6204) Stock Going Strong But Fundamentals Look Weak: What Implications Could This Have On The Stock?

Most readers would already be aware that Taiwan Alpha Electronic's (GTSM:6204) stock increased significantly by 89% over the past three months. We, however wanted to have a closer look at its key financial indicators as the markets usually pay for long-term fundamentals, and in this case, they don't look very promising. In this article, we decided to focus on Taiwan Alpha Electronic's ROE.

ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for Taiwan Alpha Electronic

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 Taiwan Alpha Electronic is:

4.7% = NT$35m ÷ NT$740m (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$0.05.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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.

Taiwan Alpha Electronic's Earnings Growth And 4.7% ROE

At first glance, Taiwan Alpha Electronic's ROE doesn't look very promising. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 9.9%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. Given the circumstances, the significant decline in net income by 9.2% seen by Taiwan Alpha Electronic over the last five years is not surprising. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For example, it is possible that the business has allocated capital poorly or that the company has a very high payout ratio.

So, as a next step, we compared Taiwan Alpha Electronic's performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a 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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 Taiwan Alpha Electronic is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Taiwan Alpha Electronic Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Taiwan Alpha Electronic has a high three-year median payout ratio of 97% (that is, it is retaining 3.2% of its profits). This suggests that the company is paying most of its profits as dividends to its shareholders. This goes some way in explaining why its earnings have been shrinking. With only a little being reinvested into the business, earnings growth would obviously be low or non-existent. Our risks dashboard should have the 2 risks we have identified for Taiwan Alpha Electronic.

Additionally, Taiwan Alpha Electronic 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.

Summary

On the whole, Taiwan Alpha Electronic's performance is quite a big let-down. Specifically, it has shown quite an unsatisfactory performance as far as earnings growth is concerned, and a poor ROE and an equally poor rate of reinvestment seem to be the reason behind this inadequate performance. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. To gain further insights into Taiwan Alpha Electronic's past profit growth, check out this visualization of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.

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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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