Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. In light of that, when we looked at Astrana Health (NASDAQ:ASTH) 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Astrana Health:

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

0.10 = US$95m ÷ (US$1.3b - US$310m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Therefore, Astrana Health has an ROCE of 10%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 11% generated by the Healthcare industry.

In the above chart we have measured Astrana Health'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 Astrana Health .

So How Is Astrana Health's ROCE Trending?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Astrana Health, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 10% from 15% five years ago. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

While on the subject, we noticed that the ratio of current liabilities to total assets has risen to 25%, which has impacted the ROCE. Without this increase, it's likely that ROCE would be even lower than 10%. Keep an eye on this ratio, because the business could encounter some new risks if this metric gets too high.

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 Astrana Health. And long term investors must be optimistic going forward because the stock has returned a huge 149% to shareholders in the last five years. So while the underlying trends could already be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

Astrana Health does have some risks though, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Astrana Health that you might be interested in.

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.