If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. In light of that, when we looked at China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings (HKG:3669) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings:

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

0.099 = CN¥1.8b ÷ (CN¥30b - CN¥12b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

So, China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings has an ROCE of 9.9%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 9.9%, it's still a low return by itself.

View our latest analysis for China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings

In the above chart we have measured China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings' 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 China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings here for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 20% over the last five years. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

On a related note, China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings has decreased its current liabilities to 40% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. 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 40% is still pretty high, so those risks are still somewhat prevalent.

In Conclusion...

To conclude, we've found that China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. And in the last five years, the stock has given away 19% so the market doesn't look too hopeful on these trends strengthening any time soon. On the whole, we aren't too inspired by the underlying trends and we think there may be better chances of finding a multi-bagger elsewhere.

On a separate note, we've found 2 warning signs for China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings you'll probably want to know about.

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.

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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.