If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. 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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at China BlueChemical (HKG:3983) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on China BlueChemical is:

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

0.072 = CN¥1.5b ÷ (CN¥24b - CN¥3.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Thus, China BlueChemical has an ROCE of 7.2%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Chemicals industry average of 9.1%.

In the above chart we have measured China BlueChemical's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for China BlueChemical .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The returns on capital haven't changed much for China BlueChemical in recent years. The company has consistently earned 7.2% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 32% in that time. This poor ROCE doesn't inspire confidence right now, and with the increase in capital employed, it's evident that the business isn't deploying the funds into high return investments.

Our Take On China BlueChemical's ROCE

Long story short, while China BlueChemical has been reinvesting its capital, the returns that it's generating haven't increased. Unsurprisingly, the stock has only gained 27% over the last five years, which potentially indicates that investors are accounting for this going forward. Therefore, if you're looking for a multi-bagger, we'd propose looking at other options.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for China BlueChemical (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should know about.

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.