Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. 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. Although, when we looked at AdvanSix (NYSE:ASIX), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Understanding 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 AdvanSix is:

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

0.052 = US$63m ÷ (US$1.5b - US$295m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

Therefore, AdvanSix has an ROCE of 5.2%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Chemicals industry average of 8.4%.

In the above chart we have measured AdvanSix'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 AdvanSix .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

When we looked at the ROCE trend at AdvanSix, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 11%, but since then they've fallen to 5.2%. However it looks like AdvanSix might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.

The Bottom Line

To conclude, we've found that AdvanSix is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. Since the stock has gained an impressive 47% over the last five years, investors must think there's better things to come. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing AdvanSix, we've discovered 2 warning signs that you should be aware of.

While AdvanSix 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.