Is AEM Holdings Ltd.'s (SGX:AWX) Stock Price Struggling As A Result Of Its Mixed Financials?

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Mon, Mar 24, 2025, 10:41 PM 3 min read

With its stock down 11% over the past month, it is easy to disregard AEM Holdings (SGX:AWX). We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. In this article, we decided to focus on AEM 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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

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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 AEM Holdings is:

2.4% = S$12m ÷ S$492m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each SGD1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made SGD0.02 in profit.

View our latest analysis for AEM Holdings

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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.

AEM Holdings' Earnings Growth And 2.4% ROE

It is quite clear that AEM Holdings' ROE is rather low. Even compared to the average industry ROE of 9.4%, the company's ROE is quite dismal. For this reason, AEM Holdings' five year net income decline of 26% is not surprising given its lower ROE. We believe that there also might be other aspects that are negatively influencing the company's earnings prospects. For instance, the company has a very high payout ratio, or is faced with competitive pressures.

As a next step, we compared AEM Holdings' performance with the industry and found thatAEM Holdings' performance is depressing even when compared with the industry, which has shrunk its earnings at a rate of 12% in the same period, which is a slower than the company.

past-earnings-growth — SGX:AWX Past Earnings Growth March 25th 2025

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. If you're wondering about AEM Holdings''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is AEM Holdings Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

While the company did payout a portion of its dividend in the past, it currently doesn't pay a regular dividend. This implies that potentially all of its profits are being reinvested in the business.

Conclusion

In total, we're a bit ambivalent about AEM Holdings' 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 company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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.