What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. So when we looked at the ROCE trend of Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) we really liked what we saw.

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

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Ferrari is:

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

0.28 = €1.6b ÷ (€8.1b - €2.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Thus, Ferrari has an ROCE of 28%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Auto industry average of 10%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Ferrari compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Ferrari .

What Can We Tell From Ferrari's ROCE Trend?

We like the trends that we're seeing from Ferrari. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 28%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 62% more capital is being employed now too. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Ferrari thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

The Bottom Line

A company that is growing its returns on capital and can consistently reinvest in itself is a highly sought after trait, and that's what Ferrari has. And a remarkable 227% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.

If you want to continue researching Ferrari, you might be interested to know about the 2 warning signs that our analysis has discovered.

Ferrari 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.