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. 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. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Modern Dental Group (HKG:3600) so let's look a bit deeper.

What Is 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. To calculate this metric for Modern Dental Group, this is the formula:

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

0.16 = HK$537m ÷ (HK$4.0b - HK$555m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

So, Modern Dental Group has an ROCE of 16%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 8.4% generated by the Medical Equipment industry.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Modern Dental Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Modern Dental Group for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

Modern Dental Group is displaying some positive trends. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 16%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 21%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Modern Dental Group thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

The Bottom Line On Modern Dental Group's ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Modern Dental Group can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. Since the stock has returned a staggering 307% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. 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 Modern Dental Group, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

While Modern Dental Group 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.