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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. With that in mind, the ROCE of YONFER Agricultural Technology (SZSE:000902) looks decent, right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

What Is 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for YONFER Agricultural Technology:

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

0.12 = CN¥1.6b ÷ (CN¥18b - CN¥4.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

Thus, YONFER Agricultural Technology has an ROCE of 12%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Chemicals industry average of 5.5% it's much better.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for YONFER Agricultural Technology compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for YONFER Agricultural Technology .

So How Is YONFER Agricultural Technology's ROCE Trending?

While the returns on capital are good, they haven't moved much. The company has consistently earned 12% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 89% in that time. Since 12% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Over long periods of time, returns like these might not be too exciting, but with consistency they can pay off in terms of share price returns.

The Key Takeaway

To sum it up, YONFER Agricultural Technology has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 71% to shareholders over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.

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

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.