Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. In light of that, when we looked at Shenzhen AV-Display (SZSE:300939) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

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. To calculate this metric for Shenzhen AV-Display, this is the formula:

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

0.061 = CN¥83m ÷ (CN¥1.6b - CN¥219m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, Shenzhen AV-Display has an ROCE of 6.1%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Electronic industry average of 5.0%.

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Shenzhen AV-Display's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating Shenzhen AV-Display's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

So How Is Shenzhen AV-Display's ROCE Trending?

In terms of Shenzhen AV-Display's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 24% over the last five years. Given the business is employing more capital while revenue has slipped, this is a bit concerning. This could mean that the business is losing its competitive advantage or market share, because while more money is being put into ventures, it's actually producing a lower return - "less bang for their buck" per se.

On a related note, Shenzhen AV-Display has decreased its current liabilities to 14% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

The Bottom Line

We're a bit apprehensive about Shenzhen AV-Display because despite more capital being deployed in the business, returns on that capital and sales have both fallen. Long term shareholders who've owned the stock over the last three years have experienced a 56% depreciation in their investment, so it appears the market might not like these trends either. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

If you'd like to know more about Shenzhen AV-Display, we've spotted 3 warning signs, and 1 of them is concerning.

While Shenzhen AV-Display 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.