Ignoring the stock price of a company, what are the underlying trends that tell us a business is past the growth phase? More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. Ultimately this means that the company is earning less per dollar invested and on top of that, it's shrinking its base of capital employed. And from a first read, things don't look too good at Jilin Quanyangquan (SHSE:600189), so let's see why.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Jilin Quanyangquan:

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

0.017 = CN¥44m ÷ (CN¥4.9b - CN¥2.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

So, Jilin Quanyangquan has an ROCE of 1.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Forestry industry average of 3.4%.

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, revenue and cash flow of Jilin Quanyangquan, check out these free graphs here.

The Trend Of ROCE

The trend of ROCE at Jilin Quanyangquan is showing some signs of weakness. To be more specific, today's ROCE was 5.5% five years ago but has since fallen to 1.7%. On top of that, the business is utilizing 37% less capital within its operations. The combination of lower ROCE and less capital employed can indicate that a business is likely to be facing some competitive headwinds or seeing an erosion to its moat. If these underlying trends continue, we wouldn't be too optimistic going forward.

On a separate but related note, it's important to know that Jilin Quanyangquan has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 48%, which we'd consider pretty high. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

The Bottom Line On Jilin Quanyangquan's ROCE

In summary, it's unfortunate that Jilin Quanyangquan is shrinking its capital base and also generating lower returns. But investors must be expecting an improvement of sorts because over the last five yearsthe stock has delivered a respectable 91% return. Regardless, we don't feel too comfortable with the fundamentals so we'd be steering clear of this stock for now.

If you'd like to know more about Jilin Quanyangquan, we've spotted 4 warning signs, and 2 of them are concerning.

While Jilin Quanyangquan 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.