Most readers would already know that Scientex Berhad's (KLSE:SCIENTX) stock increased by 5.5% over the past three months. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Scientex Berhad's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

Check out our latest analysis for Scientex Berhad

How To 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 Scientex Berhad is:

13% = RM478m ÷ RM3.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every MYR1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn MYR0.13 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. 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.

Scientex Berhad's Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

To start with, Scientex Berhad's ROE looks acceptable. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 5.4% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This certainly adds some context to Scientex Berhad's decent 8.5% net income growth seen over the past five years.

We then performed a comparison between Scientex Berhad's net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company's growth is similar to the average industry growth of 8.9% in the same 5-year period.

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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 Scientex Berhad is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Scientex Berhad Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Scientex Berhad has a three-year median payout ratio of 33%, which implies that it retains the remaining 67% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Additionally, Scientex Berhad 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 34% of its profits over the next three years. As a result, Scientex Berhad's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 14% for future ROE.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Scientex Berhad's performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.