We Like These Underlying Return On Capital Trends At Ikwezi Mining (ASX:IKW)

What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can 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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Ikwezi Mining (ASX:IKW) so let's look a bit deeper.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Ikwezi Mining is:

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

0.055 = AU$1.2m ÷ (AU$28m - AU$6.9m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

So, Ikwezi Mining has an ROCE of 5.5%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Oil and Gas industry average of 1.3%.

View our latest analysis for Ikwezi Mining

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Ikwezi Mining's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Ikwezi Mining 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

We're delighted to see that Ikwezi Mining is reaping rewards from its investments and is now generating some pre-tax profits. About five years ago the company was generating losses but things have turned around because it's now earning 5.5% on its capital. In addition to that, Ikwezi Mining is employing 57% more capital than previously which is expected of a company that's trying to break into profitability. We like this trend, because it tells us the company has profitable reinvestment opportunities available to it, and if it continues going forward that can lead to a multi-bagger performance.

On a side note, we noticed that the improvement in ROCE appears to be partly fueled by an increase in current liabilities. The current liabilities has increased to 24% of total assets, so the business is now more funded by the likes of its suppliers or short-term creditors. It's worth keeping an eye on this because as the percentage of current liabilities to total assets increases, some aspects of risk also increase.

In Conclusion...

Long story short, we're delighted to see that Ikwezi Mining's reinvestment activities have paid off and the company is now profitable. Considering the stock has delivered 24% to its stockholders over the last five years, it may be fair to think that investors aren't fully aware of the promising trends yet. So with that in mind, we think the stock deserves further research.

Ikwezi Mining does come with some risks though, we found 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those doesn't sit too well with us...

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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