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. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So, when we ran our eye over Arch Resources' (NYSE:ARCH) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.

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 Arch Resources:

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

0.18 = US$382m ÷ (US$2.4b - US$327m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

Therefore, Arch Resources has an ROCE of 18%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Metals and Mining industry average of 8.8% it's much better.

In the above chart we have measured Arch Resources' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Arch Resources .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

While the current returns on capital are decent, they haven't changed much. The company has consistently earned 18% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 35% in that time. Since 18% 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.

What We Can Learn From Arch Resources' ROCE

The main thing to remember is that Arch Resources has proven its ability to continually reinvest at respectable rates of return. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 135% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So even though the stock might be more "expensive" than it was before, we think the strong fundamentals warrant this stock for further research.

On a separate note, we've found 2 warning signs for Arch Resources you'll probably want to 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.

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