If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in JinkoSolar Holding's (NYSE:JKS) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on JinkoSolar Holding is:

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

0.091 = CN¥5.2b ÷ (CN¥137b - CN¥80b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

Thus, JinkoSolar Holding has an ROCE of 9.1%. On its own that's a low return on capital but it's in line with the industry's average returns of 9.0%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for JinkoSolar Holding 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 JinkoSolar Holding .

What Does the ROCE Trend For JinkoSolar Holding Tell Us?

We're glad to see that ROCE is heading in the right direction, even if it is still low at the moment. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 9.1%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 379%. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.

On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 58%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. So shareholders would be pleased that the growth in returns has mostly come from underlying business performance. Nevertheless, there are some potential risks the company is bearing with current liabilities that high, so just keep that in mind.

In Conclusion...

All in all, it's terrific to see that JinkoSolar Holding is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Considering the stock has delivered 8.7% to its stockholders over the last five years, it may be fair to think that investors aren't fully aware of the promising trends yet. So with that in mind, we think the stock deserves further research.

On a separate note, we've found 3 warning signs for JinkoSolar Holding 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.