Gaush Meditech (HKG:2407) has had a rough week with its share price down 12%. It is possible that the markets have ignored the company's differing financials and decided to lean-in to the negative sentiment. Stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, and therefore we decided to pay more attention to the company's financial performance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Gaush Meditech's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

Check out our latest analysis for Gaush Meditech

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE 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 Gaush Meditech is:

5.7% = CN¥89m ÷ CN¥1.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each HK$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made HK$0.06 in profit.

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. 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.

Gaush Meditech's Earnings Growth And 5.7% ROE

At first glance, Gaush Meditech's ROE doesn't look very promising. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 7.8%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. Although, we can see that Gaush Meditech saw a modest net income growth of 15% over the past five years. So, the growth in the company's earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

Next, on comparing Gaush Meditech's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 15% over the last few years.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is Gaush Meditech fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Gaush Meditech Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

The really high three-year median payout ratio of 112% for Gaush Meditech suggests that the company is paying its shareholders more than what it is earning. However, this hasn't really hampered its ability to grow as we saw earlier. It would still be worth keeping an eye on that high payout ratio, if for some reason the company runs into problems and business deteriorates. You can see the 2 risks we have identified for Gaush Meditech by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

While Gaush Meditech has been growing its earnings, it only recently started to pay dividends which likely means that the company decided to impress new and existing shareholders with a dividend.

Conclusion

Overall, we have mixed feelings about Gaush Meditech. While no doubt its earnings growth is pretty substantial, its ROE and earnings retention is quite poor. So while the company has managed to grow its earnings in spite of this, we are unconvinced if this growth could extend, especially during troubled times. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. So it may be worth checking this free detailed graph of Gaush Meditech's past earnings, as well as revenue and cash flows to get a deeper insight into the company's performance.

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