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Will Weakness in Marco Polo Marine Ltd.'s (SGX:5LY) Stock Prove Temporary Given Strong Fundamentals?

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Marco Polo Marine (SGX:5LY) has had a rough month with its share price down 15%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. In this article, we decided to focus on Marco Polo Marine'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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for Marco Polo Marine

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Marco Polo Marine is:

17% = S$32m ÷ S$192m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each SGD1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made SGD0.17 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 everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

Marco Polo Marine's Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

At first glance, Marco Polo Marine seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 7.4%. This certainly adds some context to Marco Polo Marine's exceptional 58% net income growth seen over the past five years. However, there could also be other causes behind this growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

Next, on comparing Marco Polo Marine's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 51% over the last few years.

past-earnings-growth
SGX:5LY Past Earnings Growth July 2nd 2024

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Marco Polo Marine's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.