It is hard to get excited after looking at Hoyuan Green Energy's (SHSE:603185) recent performance, when its stock has declined 20% over the past three months. But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. In this article, we decided to focus on Hoyuan Green Energy'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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Hoyuan Green Energy is:

12% = CN¥1.5b ÷ CN¥13b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CN¥1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CN¥0.12 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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.

Hoyuan Green Energy's Earnings Growth And 12% ROE

To begin with, Hoyuan Green Energy seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 6.4%. This probably laid the ground for Hoyuan Green Energy's significant 51% net income growth seen over the past five years. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Hoyuan Green Energy's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 27% in the same period, which is great to see.

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is Hoyuan Green Energy fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Hoyuan Green Energy Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Hoyuan Green Energy's three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 25%, meaning the company retains 75% of its income. So it seems that Hoyuan Green Energy is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Additionally, Hoyuan Green Energy has paid dividends over a period of five years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 26%. However, Hoyuan Green Energy's future ROE is expected to decline to 7.6% despite there being not much change anticipated in the company's payout ratio.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Hoyuan Green Energy's performance has been quite good. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.