If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. In light of that, when we looked at Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd (SHSE:603357) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

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

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd is:

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

0.16 = CN¥521m ÷ (CN¥5.6b - CN¥2.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Thus, Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd has an ROCE of 16%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 5.7% generated by the Professional Services industry.

In the above chart we have measured Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd for free.

So How Is Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd's ROCE Trending?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd, we didn't gain much confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 25% 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. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

While on the subject, we noticed that the ratio of current liabilities to total assets has risen to 42%, which has impacted the ROCE. If current liabilities hadn't increased as much as they did, the ROCE could actually be even lower. What this means is that in reality, a rather large portion of the business is being funded by the likes of the company's suppliers or short-term creditors, which can bring some risks of its own.

In Conclusion...

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And there could be an opportunity here if other metrics look good too, because the stock has declined 11% in the last five years. As a result, we'd recommend researching this stock further to uncover what other fundamentals of the business can show us.

One final note, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd (including 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) .

While Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd 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.