To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Looking at HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd (SZSE:300997), it does have a high ROCE right now, but lets see how returns are trending.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd is:

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

0.24 = CN¥359m ÷ (CN¥2.2b - CN¥726m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

So, HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd has an ROCE of 24%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 7.5% earned by companies in a similar industry.

In the above chart we have measured HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd .

What Does the ROCE Trend For HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd Tell Us?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd, we didn't gain much confidence. While it's comforting that the ROCE is high, five years ago it was 36%. 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. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

On a related note, HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd has decreased its current liabilities to 33% 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.

What We Can Learn From HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd's ROCE

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 23% to shareholders over the last year. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

One more thing, we've spotted 2 warning signs facing HUANLEJIA Food GroupLtd that you might find interesting.

High returns are a key ingredient to strong performance, so check out our free list ofstocks 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.