Yahoo Finance Is NetEase, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:NTES) Stock's Recent Performance Being Led By Its Attractive Financial Prospects?
NetEase's (NASDAQ:NTES) stock is up by a considerable 11% over the past month. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. In this article, we decided to focus on NetEase's ROE.
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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
View our latest analysis for NetEase
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 NetEase is:
21% = CN¥26b ÷ CN¥124b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.21.
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. 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.
NetEase's Earnings Growth And 21% ROE
To begin with, NetEase seems to have a respectable ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 14% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. Probably as a result of this, NetEase was able to see an impressive net income growth of 20% over the last five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.
We then performed a comparison between NetEase's net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company's growth is similar to the average industry growth of 21% in the same 5-year period.
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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Has the market priced in the future outlook for NTES? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is NetEase Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
NetEase's three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 30%, meaning the company retains 70% of its income. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the high growth we discussed above, it looks like NetEase is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.
Additionally, NetEase 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. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 35%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 21%.
Conclusion
In total, we are pretty happy with NetEase's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page 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.
