Uni-President China Holdings' (HKG:220) stock is up by a considerable 22% over the past three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. In this article, we decided to focus on Uni-President China Holdings' 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. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for Uni-President China Holdings

How To 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 Uni-President China Holdings is:

14% = CN¥1.8b ÷ CN¥13b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each HK$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made HK$0.14 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. 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. 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.

Uni-President China Holdings' Earnings Growth And 14% ROE

At first glance, Uni-President China Holdings seems to have a decent ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 6.0% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. However, for some reason, the higher returns aren't reflected in Uni-President China Holdings' meagre five year net income growth average of 4.2%. This is generally not the case as when a company has a high rate of return it should usually also have a high earnings growth rate. We reckon that a low growth, when returns are quite high could be the result of certain circumstances like low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

When you consider the fact that the industry earnings have shrunk at a rate of 3.8% in the same 5-year period, the company's net income growth is pretty remarkable.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is 220 fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Uni-President China Holdings Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Uni-President China Holdings' very high three-year median payout ratio of 109% suggests that the company is paying its shareholders more than what it is earning and it definitely contributes to the low earnings growth seen by the company. That's a huge risk in our books.

In addition, Uni-President China Holdings has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 102% of its profits over the next three years. Still, forecasts suggest that Uni-President China Holdings' future ROE will rise to 18% even though the the company's payout ratio is not expected to change by much.

Summary

Overall, we feel that Uni-President China Holdings certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Specifically, its high ROE which likely led to the growth in earnings. Bear in mind, the company reinvests little to none of its profits, which means that investors aren't necessarily reaping the full benefits of the high rate of return. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.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.