Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • NIKKEI 225

    38,073.98
    -128.39 (-0.34%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    18,537.81
    +223.95 (+1.22%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    79.45
    +0.46 (+0.58%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,343.50
    +21.20 (+0.91%)
     
  • DOW

    39,378.86
    +322.47 (+0.83%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    49,717.23
    -187.01 (-0.37%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,338.47
    +38.37 (+2.95%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    16,357.15
    +54.39 (+0.33%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,558.37
    +14.13 (+0.31%)
     

99 Technology Limited's (ASX:NNT) Financials Are Too Obscure To Link With Current Share Price Momentum: What's In Store For the Stock?

Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card!

Most readers would already be aware that 99 Technology's (ASX:NNT) stock increased significantly by 29% over the past month. However, we decided to pay attention to the company's fundamentals which don't appear to give a clear sign about the company's financial health. Specifically, we decided to study 99 Technology's ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

ADVERTISEMENT

Check out our latest analysis for 99 Technology

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 99 Technology is:

4.1% = CN¥13m ÷ CN¥321m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each A$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made A$0.04 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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.

99 Technology's Earnings Growth And 4.1% ROE

It is hard to argue that 99 Technology's ROE is much good in and of itself. Even when compared to the industry average of 14%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. Therefore, it might not be wrong to say that the five year net income decline of 3.5% seen by 99 Technology was possibly a result of it having a lower ROE. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. Such as - low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

So, as a next step, we compared 99 Technology's performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a rate of 14% in the same period.

past-earnings-growth
past-earnings-growth

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. 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 99 Technology is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is 99 Technology Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

99 Technology doesn't pay any dividend, meaning that the company is keeping all of its profits, which makes us wonder why it is retaining its earnings if it can't use them to grow its business. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds.

Summary

In total, we're a bit ambivalent about 99 Technology's performance. While the company does have a high rate of reinvestment, the low ROE means that all that reinvestment is not reaping any benefit to its investors, and moreover, its having a negative impact on the earnings growth. Wrapping up, we would proceed with caution with this company and one way of doing that would be to look at the risk profile of the business. Our risks dashboard would have the 4 risks we have identified for 99 Technology.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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