To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think Shanghai Anoky Group (SZSE:300067) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.

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. To calculate this metric for Shanghai Anoky Group, this is the formula:

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

0.0071 = CN¥19m ÷ (CN¥3.4b - CN¥648m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

So, Shanghai Anoky Group has an ROCE of 0.7%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Chemicals industry average of 5.7%.

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of Shanghai Anoky Group.

How Are Returns Trending?

The trend of ROCE doesn't look fantastic because it's fallen from 9.7% five years ago, while the business's capital employed increased by 63%. That being said, Shanghai Anoky Group raised some capital prior to their latest results being released, so that could partly explain the increase in capital employed. Shanghai Anoky Group probably hasn't received a full year of earnings yet from the new funds it raised, so these figures should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Key Takeaway

While returns have fallen for Shanghai Anoky Group in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. However, total returns to shareholders over the last five years have been flat, which could indicate these growth trends potentially aren't accounted for yet by investors. As a result, we'd recommend researching this stock further to uncover what other fundamentals of the business can show us.

One more thing: We've identified 3 warning signs with Shanghai Anoky Group (at least 2 which can't be ignored) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.

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.