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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. With that in mind, the ROCE of Aier Eye Hospital Group (SZSE:300015) looks attractive right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

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. To calculate this metric for Aier Eye Hospital Group, this is the formula:

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

0.21 = CN¥5.2b ÷ (CN¥32b - CN¥6.8b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Therefore, Aier Eye Hospital Group has an ROCE of 21%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Healthcare industry average of 8.7%.

In the above chart we have measured Aier Eye Hospital Group'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 Aier Eye Hospital Group for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

Aier Eye Hospital Group deserves to be commended in regards to it's returns. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 21% and the business has deployed 221% more capital into its operations. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 21%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If Aier Eye Hospital Group can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.

One more thing to note, even though ROCE has remained relatively flat over the last five years, the reduction in current liabilities to 21% of total assets, is good to see from a business owner's perspective. This can eliminate some of the risks inherent in the operations because the business has less outstanding obligations to their suppliers and or short-term creditors than they did previously.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, we're delighted to see that Aier Eye Hospital Group has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. However, despite the favorable fundamentals, the stock has fallen 18% over the last five years, so there might be an opportunity here for astute investors. That's why we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the fundamentals are appealing.

On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for Aier Eye Hospital Group you'll probably want to know about.

If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high returns on equity.

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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.