Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing 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. With that in mind, the ROCE of Lennox International (NYSE:LII) looks attractive right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Lennox International, this is the formula:

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

0.36 = US$603m ÷ (US$2.7b - US$968m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

So, Lennox International has an ROCE of 36%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Building industry average of 14%.

See our latest analysis for Lennox International

In the above chart we have measured Lennox International'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 report for Lennox International.

What Can We Tell From Lennox International's ROCE Trend?

Lennox International deserves to be commended in regards to it's returns. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 36% and the business has deployed 46% more capital into its operations. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 36%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If these trends can continue, it wouldn't surprise us if the company became a multi-bagger.

The Bottom Line

In the end, the company has proven it can reinvest it's capital at high rates of returns, which you'll remember is a trait of a multi-bagger. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 56% to shareholders over the last five years. So even though the stock might be more "expensive" than it was before, we think the strong fundamentals warrant this stock for further research.

Lennox International does have some risks, we noticed 3 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.

If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high 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.