Dong Suh Companies (KRX:026960) has had a rough week with its share price down 3.6%. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Specifically, we decided to study Dong Suh Companies' 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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
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 Dong Suh Companies is:
8.5% = ₩145b ÷ ₩1.7t (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₩1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₩0.09 in profit.
View our latest analysis for Dong Suh Companies
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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.
At first glance, Dong Suh Companies' ROE doesn't look very promising. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 9.6%, we may spare it some thought. On the other hand, Dong Suh Companies reported a moderate 7.1% net income growth over the past five years. Considering the moderately low ROE, it is quite possible that there might be some other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.
We then performed a comparison between Dong Suh Companies' net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company's growth is similar to the average industry growth of 8.2% in the same 5-year period.
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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 Dong Suh Companies is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
With a three-year median payout ratio of 49% (implying that the company retains 51% of its profits), it seems that Dong Suh Companies is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees respectable amount growth in its earnings and pays a dividend that's well covered.
Besides, Dong Suh Companies has been paying dividends over a period of eight years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders.
On the whole, we do feel that Dong Suh Companies has some positive attributes. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth.
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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.