It is hard to get excited after looking at SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD's (SHSE:601399) recent performance, when its stock has declined 5.7% over the past three months. It is possible that the markets have ignored the company's differing financials and decided to lean-in to the negative sentiment. Long-term fundamentals are usually what drive market outcomes, so it's worth paying close attention. In this article, we decided to focus on SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD'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 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 SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD is:

3.2% = CN¥463m ÷ CN¥15b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every CN¥1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CN¥0.03.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD's Earnings Growth And 3.2% ROE

It is hard to argue that SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD's ROE is much good in and of itself. Even when compared to the industry average of 7.6%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. Given the circumstances, the significant decline in net income by 4.9% seen by SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD over the last five years is not surprising. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. For example, the business has allocated capital poorly, or that the company has a very high payout ratio.

However, when we compared SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD's growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 11% in the same period. This is quite worrisome.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. If you're wondering about SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Because SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD doesn't pay any dividends, we infer that it is retaining all of its profits, which is rather perplexing when you consider the fact that there is no earnings growth to show for it. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD can be open to many interpretations. Even though it appears to be retaining most of its profits, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. The low earnings growth suggests our theory correct. Wrapping up, we would proceed with caution with this company and one way of doing that would be to look at the risk profile of the business. You can see the 1 risk we have identified for SINOMACH HEAVY EQUIPMENT GROUPLTD by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

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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.