If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Fufeng Group (HKG:546) so let's look a bit deeper.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Fufeng Group:

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

0.18 = CN¥3.4b ÷ (CN¥33b - CN¥14b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Thus, Fufeng Group has an ROCE of 18%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 6.1% generated by the Chemicals industry.

In the above chart we have measured Fufeng Group's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Fufeng Group for free.

So How Is Fufeng Group's ROCE Trending?

Fufeng Group is displaying some positive trends. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 18%. 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 29%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

For the record though, there was a noticeable increase in the company's current liabilities over the period, so we would attribute some of the ROCE growth to that. Effectively this means that suppliers or short-term creditors are now funding 43% of the business, which is more than it was five years ago. Given it's pretty high ratio, we'd remind investors that having current liabilities at those levels can bring about some risks in certain businesses.

In Conclusion...

To sum it up, Fufeng Group has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. And a remarkable 133% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. 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.

One more thing: We've identified 2 warning signs with Fufeng Group (at least 1 which is concerning) , and understanding these would certainly be useful.

While Fufeng Group 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.