To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. So, when we ran our eye over Man Wah Holdings' (HKG:1999) trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

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

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Man Wah Holdings:

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

0.21 = HK$2.7b ÷ (HK$20b - HK$7.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, Man Wah Holdings has an ROCE of 21%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 8.6% earned by companies in a similar industry.

See our latest analysis for Man Wah Holdings

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Man Wah Holdings compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Man Wah Holdings.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

In terms of Man Wah Holdings' history of ROCE, it's quite impressive. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 21% and the business has deployed 99% more capital into its operations. With returns that high, it's great that the business can continually reinvest its money at such appealing rates of return. If Man Wah Holdings can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.

The Bottom Line On Man Wah Holdings' ROCE

In summary, we're delighted to see that Man Wah Holdings has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 80% to shareholders over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing Man Wah Holdings, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

Man Wah Holdings is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.

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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.