What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at Dongguan Development (Holdings) (SZSE:000828) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Dongguan Development (Holdings):

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

0.043 = CN¥965m ÷ (CN¥29b - CN¥6.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Thus, Dongguan Development (Holdings) has an ROCE of 4.3%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Infrastructure industry average of 4.9%.

See our latest analysis for Dongguan Development (Holdings)

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Dongguan Development (Holdings)'s ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Dongguan Development (Holdings) has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

The Trend Of ROCE

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Dongguan Development (Holdings), we didn't gain much confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 13% over the last five years. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

The Key Takeaway

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Dongguan Development (Holdings). Furthermore the stock has climbed 62% over the last five years, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So while the underlying trends could already be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

One more thing: We've identified 5 warning signs with Dongguan Development (Holdings) (at least 3 which are a bit concerning) , and understanding these would certainly be useful.

While Dongguan Development (Holdings) 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.