Qingdao Port International (HKG:6198) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 14% over the last three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. In this article, we decided to focus on Qingdao Port International's ROE.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
See our latest analysis for Qingdao Port International
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 Qingdao Port International is:
12% = CN¥5.6b ÷ CN¥47b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that for every HK$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated HK$0.12 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.
Qingdao Port International's Earnings Growth And 12% ROE
To begin with, Qingdao Port International seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 7.9% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This certainly adds some context to Qingdao Port International's decent 7.1% net income growth seen over the past five years.
As a next step, we compared Qingdao Port International's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 6.8% in the same period.
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. 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 Qingdao Port International is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Qingdao Port International Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Qingdao Port International has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 38% (or a retention ratio of 62%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.
Additionally, Qingdao Port International has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 41% of its profits over the next three years. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 11%.
Conclusion
Overall, we are quite pleased with Qingdao Port International's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.