Elite Material Co., Ltd.'s (TWSE:2383) Stock Is Going Strong: Is the Market Following Fundamentals?

Most readers would already be aware that Elite Material's (TWSE:2383) stock increased significantly by 42% over the past month. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. In this article, we decided to focus on Elite Material's ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

Check out our latest analysis for Elite Material

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 Elite Material is:

28% = NT$8.9b ÷ NT$32b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each NT$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made NT$0.28 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Elite Material's Earnings Growth And 28% ROE

To begin with, Elite Material has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Second, a comparison with the average ROE reported by the industry of 8.5% also doesn't go unnoticed by us. This likely paved the way for the modest 17% net income growth seen by Elite Material over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared Elite Material's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 11%.

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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is 2383 worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether 2383 is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Elite Material Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Elite Material has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 58%, meaning that it is left with only 42% to reinvest into its business. This implies that the company has been able to achieve decent earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Besides, Elite Material has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 58%. As a result, Elite Material's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 30% for future ROE.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Elite Material'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. The latest industry analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to maintain its current growth rate. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.