What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Although, when we looked at Runjian (SZSE:002929), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Runjian:

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

0.094 = CN¥555m ÷ (CN¥14b - CN¥8.5b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, Runjian has an ROCE of 9.4%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Construction industry average of 6.8%.

See our latest analysis for Runjian

In the above chart we have measured Runjian's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Runjian.

How Are Returns Trending?

There are better returns on capital out there than what we're seeing at Runjian. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 9.4% and the business has deployed 132% more capital into its operations. This poor ROCE doesn't inspire confidence right now, and with the increase in capital employed, it's evident that the business isn't deploying the funds into high return investments.

Another point to note, we noticed the company has increased current liabilities over the last five years. This is intriguing because if current liabilities hadn't increased to 59% of total assets, this reported ROCE would probably be less than9.4% because total capital employed would be higher.The 9.4% ROCE could be even lower if current liabilities weren't 59% of total assets, because the the formula would show a larger base of total capital employed. So with current liabilities at such high levels, this effectively means the likes of suppliers or short-term creditors are funding a meaningful part of the business, which in some instances can bring some risks.

Our Take On Runjian's ROCE

In summary, Runjian has simply been reinvesting capital and generating the same low rate of return as before. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 63% over the last five years. Ultimately, if the underlying trends persist, we wouldn't hold our breath on it being a multi-bagger going forward.

On a separate note, we've found 3 warning signs for Runjian you'll probably want to 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.