JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 67% over the last month. 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. In this article, we decided to focus on JD.com'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. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

Check out our latest analysis for JD.com

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 JD.com is:

11% = CN￥31b ÷ CN￥288b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.11 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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 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.

JD.com's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

To start with, JD.com's ROE looks acceptable. Yet, the fact that the company's ROE is lower than the industry average of 21% does temper our expectations. Additionally, the low net income growth of 4.9% seen by JD.com over the past five years doesn't paint a very bright picture. Not to forget, the company does have a decent ROE to begin with, just that it is lower than the industry average. So there might be other reasons for the earnings growth to be low. Such as, the company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is facing competitive pressures.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that JD.com's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 15% over the last few years, which is not something we like to see.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. What is JD worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether JD is currently mispriced by the market.