Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. In light of that, when we looked at Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group (SHSE:603173) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.
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 Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.10 = CN¥163m ÷ (CN¥4.7b - CN¥3.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).
Thus, Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group has an ROCE of 10%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Machinery industry average of 5.5% it's much better.
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
So How Is Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group's ROCE Trending?
When we looked at the ROCE trend at Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 28%, but since then they've fallen to 10%. However it looks like Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.
On a side note, Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 66% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE. Keep in mind 66% is still pretty high, so those risks are still somewhat prevalent.
The Bottom Line On Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group's ROCE
Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 27% in the last year. In any case, the stock doesn't have these traits of a multi-bagger discussed above, so if that's what you're looking for, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.
One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing Hangzhou Fortune Gas Cryogenic Group that you might find interesting.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. 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.
オーストラリアでは、moomooの投資商品及びサービスはMoomoo Securities Australia Limitedによって提供され、オーストラリア証券投資委員会(ASIC)の管理を受けております(AFSL No. 224663)。「金融サービスガイド」、「利用規約」、「プライバシーポリシー」などの詳細は、Moomoo Securities Australia Limitedのウェブサイトhttps://www.moomoo.com/auでご確認いただけます。
オーストラリアでは、moomooの投資商品及びサービスはMoomoo Securities Australia Limitedによって提供され、オーストラリア証券投資委員会(ASIC)の管理を受けております(AFSL No. 224663)。「金融サービスガイド」、「利用規約」、「プライバシーポリシー」などの詳細は、Moomoo Securities Australia Limitedのウェブサイトhttps://www.moomoo.com/auでご確認いただけます。