Melexis (EBR:MELE) Might Become A Compounding Machine

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. That's why when we briefly looked at Melexis' (EBR:MELE) ROCE trend, we were very happy with what we saw.

Understanding 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Melexis:

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

0.44 = €238m ÷ (€641m - €98m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

So, Melexis has an ROCE of 44%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 15% earned by companies in a similar industry.

View our latest analysis for Melexis

In the above chart we have measured Melexis' 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 Melexis.

The Trend Of ROCE

We'd be pretty happy with returns on capital like Melexis. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 44% and the business has deployed 60% more capital into its operations. With returns that high, it's great that the business can continually reinvest its money at such appealing rates of return. If these trends can continue, it wouldn't surprise us if the company became a multi-bagger.

What We Can Learn From Melexis' ROCE

In short, we'd argue Melexis has the makings of a multi-bagger since its been able to compound its capital at very profitable rates of return. However, over the last five years, the stock has only delivered a 35% return to shareholders who held over that period. So to determine if Melexis is a multi-bagger going forward, we'd suggest digging deeper into the company's other fundamentals.

If you want to continue researching Melexis, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

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. 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.