There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. That's why when we briefly looked at CNOOC Energy Technology & Services' (SHSE:600968) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.

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

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on CNOOC Energy Technology & Services is:

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

0.10 = CN¥2.9b ÷ (CN¥42b - CN¥15b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Thus, CNOOC Energy Technology & Services has an ROCE of 10%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Energy Services industry average of 7.8% it's much better.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for CNOOC Energy Technology & Services compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for CNOOC Energy Technology & Services.

So How Is CNOOC Energy Technology & Services' ROCE Trending?

The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 10% and the business has deployed 69% more capital into its operations. Since 10% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.

The Key Takeaway

In the end, CNOOC Energy Technology & Services has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. Therefore it's no surprise that shareholders have earned a respectable 49% return if they held over the last three years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.

If you want to continue researching CNOOC Energy Technology & Services, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

While CNOOC Energy Technology & Services 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.