What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. In light of that, when we looked at Hoshine Silicon Industry (SHSE:603260) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

Understanding 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. The formula for this calculation on Hoshine Silicon Industry is:

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

0.073 = CN¥4.1b ÷ (CN¥76b - CN¥20b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, Hoshine Silicon Industry has an ROCE of 7.3%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Chemicals industry average of 5.7%.

In the above chart we have measured Hoshine Silicon Industry's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Hoshine Silicon Industry .

So How Is Hoshine Silicon Industry's ROCE Trending?

Unfortunately, the trend isn't great with ROCE falling from 35% five years ago, while capital employed has grown 482%. Usually this isn't ideal, but given Hoshine Silicon Industry conducted a capital raising before their most recent earnings announcement, that would've likely contributed, at least partially, to the increased capital employed figure. Hoshine Silicon Industry 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.

On a side note, Hoshine Silicon Industry has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 26% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

What We Can Learn From Hoshine Silicon Industry's ROCE

Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Hoshine Silicon Industry's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And with the stock having returned a mere 28% in the last five years to shareholders, you could argue that they're aware of these lackluster trends. So if you're looking for a multi-bagger, the underlying trends indicate you may have better chances elsewhere.

Hoshine Silicon Industry does have some risks, we noticed 4 warning signs (and 2 which are potentially serious) we think you should know about.

While Hoshine Silicon Industry may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.