To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at AerSale (NASDAQ:ASLE) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for AerSale:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.00053 = US$264k ÷ (US$554m - US$57m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, AerSale has an ROCE of 0.05%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Aerospace & Defense industry average of 9.8%.

View our latest analysis for AerSale

Above you can see how the current ROCE for AerSale compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From AerSale's ROCE Trend?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at AerSale, we didn't gain much confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 6.0% over the last five years. Given the business is employing more capital while revenue has slipped, this is a bit concerning. If this were to continue, you might be looking at a company that is trying to reinvest for growth but is actually losing market share since sales haven't increased.

The Bottom Line On AerSale's ROCE

From the above analysis, we find it rather worrisome that returns on capital and sales for AerSale have fallen, meanwhile the business is employing more capital than it was five years ago. Yet despite these concerning fundamentals, the stock has performed strongly with a 31% return over the last three years, so investors appear very optimistic. In any case, the current underlying trends don't bode well for long term performance so unless they reverse, we'd start looking elsewhere.

AerSale does have some risks, we noticed 2 warning signs (and 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) we think you should know about.

While AerSale may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.