Yahoo Finance Has Southern Cable Group Berhad's (KLSE:SCGBHD) Impressive Stock Performance Got Anything to Do With Its Fundamentals?
Southern Cable Group Berhad (KLSE:SCGBHD) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 74% over the last three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Southern Cable Group Berhad's ROE today.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
View our latest analysis for Southern Cable Group Berhad
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
Return on equity 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 Southern Cable Group Berhad is:
12% = RM38m ÷ RM329m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each MYR1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made MYR0.12 in profit.
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. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Southern Cable Group Berhad's Earnings Growth And 12% ROE
To begin with, Southern Cable Group Berhad seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 7.4%. However, for some reason, the higher returns aren't reflected in Southern Cable Group Berhad's meagre five year net income growth average of 2.2%. This is generally not the case as when a company has a high rate of return it should usually also have a high earnings growth rate. Such a scenario is likely to take place when a company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Southern Cable Group Berhad's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 20% over the last few years, which is not something we like to see.
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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. 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 Southern Cable Group Berhad is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Southern Cable Group Berhad Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Southern Cable Group Berhad's low three-year median payout ratio of 16% (or a retention ratio of 84%) should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings to fuel its growth. However, the low earnings growth number doesn't reflect this as high growth usually follows high profit retention. So there could be some other explanation in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.
Moreover, Southern Cable Group Berhad has been paying dividends for three years, which is a considerable amount of time, suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth.
Conclusion
On the whole, we do feel that Southern Cable Group Berhad has some positive attributes. Although, we are disappointed to see a lack of growth in earnings even in spite of a high ROE and and a high reinvestment rate. We believe that there might be some outside factors that could be having a negative impact on the business. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. To know the 1 risk we have identified for Southern Cable Group Berhad visit our risks dashboard for free.
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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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com
