Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd (SHSE:600054) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 12% over the last month. However, we decided to pay attention to the company's fundamentals which don't appear to give a clear sign about the company's financial health. Specifically, we decided to study Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

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 Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd is:

7.7% = CN¥362m ÷ CN¥4.7b (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¥0.08 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. 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. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd's Earnings Growth And 7.7% ROE

At first glance, Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd's ROE doesn't look very promising. Yet, a closer study shows that the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 8.0%. But Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd saw a five year net income decline of 49% over the past five years. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. So that's what might be causing earnings growth to shrink.

Next, when we compared with the industry, which has shrunk its earnings at a rate of 24% in the same 5-year period, we still found Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd's performance to be quite bleak, because the company has been shrinking its earnings faster than the industry.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is 600054 fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd doesn't pay any dividend, meaning that the company is keeping all of its profits, which makes us wonder why it is retaining its earnings if it can't use them to grow its business. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

Summary

In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Huangshan Tourism DevelopmentLtd's performance. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. With that said, we studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that while the company has shrunk its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to grow in the future. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.