With its stock down 26% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing (SHSE:688377). However, stock prices are usually driven by a company's financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing's ROE today.

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.

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 Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing is:

8.3% = CN¥142m ÷ CN¥1.7b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CN¥1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CN¥0.08 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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 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.

Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing's Earnings Growth And 8.3% ROE

On the face of it, Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing's ROE is not much to talk about. Yet, a closer study shows that the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 7.2%. Even so, Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing has shown a fairly decent growth in its net income which grew at a rate of 15%. Taking into consideration that the ROE is not particularly high, we reckon that there could also be other factors at play which could be influencing the company's growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

We then compared Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 11% in the same 5-year period.

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. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

With a three-year median payout ratio of 29% (implying that the company retains 71% of its profits), it seems that Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees respectable amount growth in its earnings and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Moreover, Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of three years of paying a dividend.

Conclusion

On the whole, we do feel that Nanjing Develop Advanced Manufacturing has some positive attributes. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. 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.