What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Although, when we looked at Hoyuan Green Energy (SHSE:603185), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Hoyuan Green Energy, this is the formula:

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

0.15 = CN¥2.2b ÷ (CN¥24b - CN¥9.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Thus, Hoyuan Green Energy has an ROCE of 15%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Semiconductor industry average of 4.1% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Hoyuan Green Energy

In the above chart we have measured Hoyuan Green Energy's 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 report on analyst forecasts for the company.

So How Is Hoyuan Green Energy's ROCE Trending?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Hoyuan Green Energy, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 52%, but since then they've fallen to 15%. However it looks like Hoyuan Green Energy might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

On a separate but related note, it's important to know that Hoyuan Green Energy has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 40%, which we'd consider pretty high. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

In Conclusion...

In summary, Hoyuan Green Energy is reinvesting funds back into the business for growth but unfortunately it looks like sales haven't increased much just yet. Additionally, the stock's total return to shareholders over the last three years has been flat, which isn't too surprising. On the whole, we aren't too inspired by the underlying trends and we think there may be better chances of finding a multi-bagger elsewhere.

If you'd like to know more about Hoyuan Green Energy, we've spotted 3 warning signs, and 1 of them can't be ignored.

While Hoyuan Green Energy may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list 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.