Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? 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 Luenmei QuantumLtd (SHSE:600167), 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Luenmei QuantumLtd:

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

0.062 = CN¥837m ÷ (CN¥17b - CN¥3.4b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

So, Luenmei QuantumLtd has an ROCE of 6.2%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Water Utilities industry average of 7.1%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Luenmei QuantumLtd 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 report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From Luenmei QuantumLtd's ROCE Trend?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Luenmei QuantumLtd, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 14%, but since then they've fallen to 6.2%. On the other hand, the company has been employing more capital without a corresponding improvement in sales in the last year, which could suggest these investments are longer term plays. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

While on the subject, we noticed that the ratio of current liabilities to total assets has risen to 20%, which has impacted the ROCE. Without this increase, it's likely that ROCE would be even lower than 6.2%. While the ratio isn't currently too high, it's worth keeping an eye on this because if it gets particularly high, the business could then face some new elements of risk.

In Conclusion...

In summary, Luenmei QuantumLtd is reinvesting funds back into the business for growth but unfortunately it looks like sales haven't increased much just yet. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 22% in the last five years. In any case, the stock doesn't have these traits of a multi-bagger discussed above, so if that's what you're looking for, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.

One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing Luenmei QuantumLtd that you might find interesting.

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.