Queen's Road Capital Investment's (TSE:QRC) stock is up by a considerable 11% over the past week. 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. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Queen's Road Capital Investment's ROE today.

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 simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for Queen's Road Capital Investment

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Queen's Road Capital Investment is:

35% = US$110m ÷ US$310m (Based on the trailing twelve months to May 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CA$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CA$0.35 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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.

Queen's Road Capital Investment's Earnings Growth And 35% ROE

First thing first, we like that Queen's Road Capital Investment has an impressive ROE. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 9.6% the company's ROE is quite impressive. So, the substantial 22% net income growth seen by Queen's Road Capital Investment over the past five years isn't overly surprising.

Next, on comparing Queen's Road Capital Investment's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 23% over the last few years.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for QRC? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report