To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. Although, when we looked at ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR), 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. To calculate this metric for ACM Research, this is the formula:

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

0.11 = US$119m ÷ (US$1.7b - US$586m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Thus, ACM Research has an ROCE of 11%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Semiconductor industry average of 9.0% it's much better.

In the above chart we have measured ACM Research'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 analyst report for ACM Research .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

When we looked at the ROCE trend at ACM Research, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 11% from 19% five years ago. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

The Bottom Line

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for ACM Research. And long term investors must be optimistic going forward because the stock has returned a huge 308% to shareholders in the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for ACM Research (of which 1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should know about.

While ACM Research may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.