Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery (SHSE:603638) has had a rough week with its share price down 3.6%. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Specifically, we decided to study Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery's ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors' money. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

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 Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery is:

9.2% = CN¥301m ÷ CN¥3.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every CN¥1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated CN¥0.09 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery's Earnings Growth And 9.2% ROE

On the face of it, Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery's ROE is not much to talk about. Although a closer study shows that the company's ROE is higher than the industry average of 7.5% which we definitely can't overlook. However, Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery has seen a flattish net income growth over the past five years, which is not saying much. Remember, the company's ROE is a bit low to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. Therefore, the low to flat growth in earnings could also be the result of this.

As a next step, we compared Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 11% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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 Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Despite having a normal three-year median payout ratio of 28% (implying that the company keeps 72% of its income) over the last three years, Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery has seen a negligible amount of growth in earnings as we saw above. Therefore, there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

Moreover, Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery has been paying dividends for seven years, which is a considerable amount of time, suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 33%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 10%.

Summary

On the whole, we do feel that Yantai Eddie Precision Machinery has some positive attributes. Although, we are disappointed to see a lack of growth in earnings even in spite of a moderate ROE and and a high reinvestment rate. We believe that there might be some outside factors that could be having a negative impact on the business. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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.