Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. 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, we've noticed some promising trends at Adient (NYSE:ADNT) so let's look a bit deeper.

What Is 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 Adient is:

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

0.079 = US$455m ÷ (US$9.5b - US$3.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Thus, Adient has an ROCE of 7.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Auto Components industry average of 14%.

View our latest analysis for Adient

In the above chart we have measured Adient'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.

The Trend Of ROCE

Adient has not disappointed in regards to ROCE growth. The data shows that returns on capital have increased by 48% over the trailing five years. That's a very favorable trend because this means that the company is earning more per dollar of capital that's being employed. Speaking of capital employed, the company is actually utilizing 31% less than it was five years ago, which can be indicative of a business that's improving its efficiency. A business that's shrinking its asset base like this isn't usually typical of a soon to be multi-bagger company.

The Bottom Line

In the end, Adient has proven it's capital allocation skills are good with those higher returns from less amount of capital. And with a respectable 64% awarded to those who held the stock over the last five years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.

One final note, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Adient (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant) .

While Adient 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.