Melexis (EBR:MELE) Looks To Prolong Its Impressive Returns

If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount 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. Ergo, when we looked at the ROCE trends at Melexis (EBR:MELE), we liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

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 Melexis, this is the formula:

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

0.33 = €136m ÷ (€479m - €67m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).

Therefore, Melexis has an ROCE of 33%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Semiconductor industry average of 9.7%.

View our latest analysis for Melexis

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Melexis compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Melexis.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

Melexis deserves to be commended in regards to it's returns. The company has consistently earned 33% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 36% in that time. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 33%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. You'll see this when looking at well operated businesses or favorable business models.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, we're delighted to see that Melexis 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 74% to shareholders over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.

Like most companies, Melexis does come with some risks, and we've found 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

Melexis is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.

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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.