Is Gravity Co., Ltd.'s(NASDAQ:GRVY) Recent Stock Performance Tethered To Its Strong Fundamentals?
Most readers would already be aware that Gravity's (NASDAQ:GRVY) stock increased significantly by 147% over the past three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Gravity's ROE today.
ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
Check out our latest analysis for Gravity
How Is ROE Calculated?
The formula for return on equity is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Gravity is:
23% = ₩29b ÷ ₩127b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.23 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Gravity's Earnings Growth And 23% ROE
To begin with, Gravity has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 16% the company's ROE is quite impressive. Under the circumstances, Gravity's considerable five year net income growth of 69% was to be expected.
As a next step, we compared Gravity's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 35%.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Gravity's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Gravity Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Gravity doesn't pay any dividend currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the high earnings growth number that we discussed above.
Summary
In total, we are pretty happy with Gravity's performance. 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. If the company continues to grow its earnings the way it has, that could have a positive impact on its share price given how earnings per share influence long-term share prices. Not to forget, share price outcomes are also dependent on the potential risks a company may face. So it is important for investors to be aware of the risks involved in the business. To know the 1 risk we have identified for Gravity visit our risks dashboard for free.
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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. Thank you for reading.
