Yahoo Finance There's Been No Shortage Of Growth Recently For China Everbright Water's (SGX:U9E) Returns On Capital
If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So when we looked at China Everbright Water (SGX:U9E) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.
What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?
For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for China Everbright Water:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.074 = HK$2.1b ÷ (HK$35b - HK$6.5b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
So, China Everbright Water has an ROCE of 7.4%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 7.0%, it's still a low return by itself.
See our latest analysis for China Everbright Water
Above you can see how the current ROCE for China Everbright Water compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for China Everbright Water.
So How Is China Everbright Water's ROCE Trending?
Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 7.4%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 125% more capital is being employed now too. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at China Everbright Water thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.
What We Can Learn From China Everbright Water's ROCE
In summary, it's great to see that China Everbright Water can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. Astute investors may have an opportunity here because the stock has declined 26% in the last five years. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.
Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for China Everbright Water (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should know about.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.
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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.
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