Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing 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 Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE:AXTA), 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Axalta Coating Systems:

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

0.11 = US$621m ÷ (US$7.3b - US$1.4b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Therefore, Axalta Coating Systems has an ROCE of 11%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 9.9% generated by the Chemicals industry.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Axalta Coating Systems 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 analyst report for Axalta Coating Systems .

The Trend Of ROCE

Things have been pretty stable at Axalta Coating Systems, with its capital employed and returns on that capital staying somewhat the same for the last five years. It's not uncommon to see this when looking at a mature and stable business that isn't re-investing its earnings because it has likely passed that phase of the business cycle. So unless we see a substantial change at Axalta Coating Systems in terms of ROCE and additional investments being made, we wouldn't hold our breath on it being a multi-bagger.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, Axalta Coating Systems isn't compounding its earnings but is generating stable returns on the same amount of capital employed. And investors may be recognizing these trends since the stock has only returned a total of 28% to shareholders over the last five years. So if you're looking for a multi-bagger, the underlying trends indicate you may have better chances elsewhere.

If you want to continue researching Axalta Coating Systems, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

While Axalta Coating Systems isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.