If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, 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. And in light of that, the trends we're seeing at Morimatsu International Holdings' (HKG:2155) look very promising so lets take a look.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Morimatsu International Holdings is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.20 = CN¥952m ÷ (CN¥8.9b - CN¥4.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
Therefore, Morimatsu International Holdings has an ROCE of 20%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Machinery industry average of 8.5%.
Check out our latest analysis for Morimatsu International Holdings
In the above chart we have measured Morimatsu International Holdings' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Morimatsu International Holdings .
The Trend Of ROCE
Investors would be pleased with what's happening at Morimatsu International Holdings. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 20%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 210%. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.
In another part of our analysis, we noticed that the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets decreased to 48%, which broadly means the business is relying less on its suppliers or short-term creditors to fund its operations. So this improvement in ROCE has come from the business' underlying economics, which is great to see. However, current liabilities are still at a pretty high level, so just be aware that this can bring with it some risks.
The Bottom Line
A company that is growing its returns on capital and can consistently reinvest in itself is a highly sought after trait, and that's what Morimatsu International Holdings has. Given the stock has declined 61% in the last three years, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.
Morimatsu International Holdings does come with some risks though, we found 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...
If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high 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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