There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. However, after investigating Fengzhushou (SZSE:301382), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Fengzhushou is:

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

0.09 = CN¥166m ÷ (CN¥2.4b - CN¥558m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

So, Fengzhushou has an ROCE of 9.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the IT industry average of 3.8%.

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of Fengzhushou.

The Trend Of ROCE

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Fengzhushou, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 17%, but since then they've fallen to 9.0%. 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.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Fengzhushou is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. However, despite the promising trends, the stock has fallen 26% over the last year, so there might be an opportunity here for astute investors. As a result, we'd recommend researching this stock further to uncover what other fundamentals of the business can show us.

If you want to know some of the risks facing Fengzhushou we've found 2 warning signs (1 is potentially serious!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high 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.