Trends At South Port New Zealand (NZSE:SPN) Point To A Promising Future

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. With that in mind, the ROCE of South Port New Zealand (NZSE:SPN) looks attractive right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

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. The formula for this calculation on South Port New Zealand is:

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

0.27 = NZ$14m ÷ (NZ$59m - NZ$5.5m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019).

Therefore, South Port New Zealand has an ROCE of 27%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 8.1% earned by companies in a similar industry.

Check out our latest analysis for South Port New Zealand

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'd like to look at how South Port New Zealand has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

South Port New Zealand deserves to be commended in regards to it's returns. The company has employed 23% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 27%. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 27%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If South Port New Zealand can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, we're delighted to see that South Port New Zealand has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 75% to shareholders over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

Before jumping to any conclusions though, we need to know what value we're getting for the current share price. That's where you can check out our FREE intrinsic value estimation that compares the share price and estimated value.

High returns are a key ingredient to strong performance, so check out our free list ofstocks earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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