Is Heran Co., Ltd.'s(TPE:5283) Recent Stock Performance Tethered To Its Strong Fundamentals?

Heran's (TPE:5283) stock is up by a considerable 6.9% over the past month. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Specifically, we decided to study Heran's ROE in this article.

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. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for Heran

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 Heran is:

23% = NT$913m ÷ NT$4.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every NT$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn NT$0.23 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.

Heran's Earnings Growth And 23% ROE

First thing first, we like that Heran has an impressive ROE. Second, a comparison with the average ROE reported by the industry of 9.9% also doesn't go unnoticed by us. This probably laid the groundwork for Heran's moderate 13% net income growth seen over the past five years.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Heran's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 9.2% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Heran's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Heran Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

While Heran has a three-year median payout ratio of 66% (which means it retains 34% of profits), the company has still seen a fair bit of earnings growth in the past, meaning that its high payout ratio hasn't hampered its ability to grow.

Besides, Heran has been paying dividends over a period of eight years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Heran's performance has been quite good. 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. 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 Heran'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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