If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should 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. With that in mind, the ROCE of Hess Midstream (NYSE:HESM) looks great, so lets see what the trend can tell us.

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. The formula for this calculation on Hess Midstream is:

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

0.22 = US$803m ÷ (US$3.8b - US$174m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, Hess Midstream has an ROCE of 22%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Oil and Gas industry average of 17%.

See our latest analysis for Hess Midstream

In the above chart we have measured Hess Midstream's 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 report on analyst forecasts for the company.

How Are Returns Trending?

Hess Midstream is displaying some positive trends. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 22%. 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 34%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Hess Midstream thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

What We Can Learn From Hess Midstream's ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Hess Midstream 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. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

One more thing: We've identified 2 warning signs with Hess Midstream (at least 1 which is significant) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.

High returns are a key ingredient to strong performance, so check out our free list ofstocks 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.