Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? 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. That's why when we briefly looked at Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings' (HKG:874) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.

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 Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings is:

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

0.11 = CN¥4.6b ÷ (CN¥79b - CN¥36b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Thus, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings has an ROCE of 11%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Healthcare industry average of 10%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings 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 Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings for free.

So How Is Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings' ROCE Trending?

While the returns on capital are good, they haven't moved much. The company has consistently earned 11% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 73% in that time. Since 11% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.

On a side note, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings' current liabilities are still rather high at 46% of total assets. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

The Key Takeaway

In the end, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. However, despite the favorable fundamentals, the stock has fallen 36% over the last five years, so there might be an opportunity here for astute investors. That's why we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the fundamentals are appealing.

Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings does have some risks though, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings that you might be interested in.

While Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Holdings 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.