To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. So on that note, DRDGOLD (NYSE:DRD) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

What Is 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. To calculate this metric for DRDGOLD, this is the formula:

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

0.18 = R1.4b ÷ (R8.2b - R719m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

So, DRDGOLD has an ROCE of 18%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Metals and Mining industry average of 9.9% it's much better.

See our latest analysis for DRDGOLD

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of DRDGOLD, check out these free graphs here.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The trends we've noticed at DRDGOLD are quite reassuring. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 18%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 265% more capital is being employed now too. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at DRDGOLD thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

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 DRDGOLD has. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.

If you'd like to know more about DRDGOLD, we've spotted 2 warning signs, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

While DRDGOLD isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.