Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. With that in mind, the ROCE of APT Medical (SHSE:688617) looks great, so lets see what the trend can tell us.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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. To calculate this metric for APT Medical, this is the formula:

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

0.29 = CN¥634m ÷ (CN¥2.7b - CN¥541m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Thus, APT Medical has an ROCE of 29%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 6.0% earned by companies in a similar industry.

In the above chart we have measured APT Medical'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 APT Medical .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

APT Medical is displaying some positive trends. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 29%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 499%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, it's great to see that APT Medical can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. Since the stock has returned a solid 54% to shareholders over the last three years, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.

If you want to continue researching APT Medical, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets here.

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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.