Shareholders Would Enjoy A Repeat Of Finning International's (TSE:FTT) Recent Growth In Returns

Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So when we looked at the ROCE trend of Finning International (TSE:FTT) we really liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Finning International, this is the formula:

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

0.23 = CA$891m ÷ (CA$7.5b - CA$3.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Therefore, Finning International has an ROCE of 23%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 17% earned by companies in a similar industry.

View our latest analysis for Finning International

In the above chart we have measured Finning International's 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 Finning International.

How Are Returns Trending?

Finning International is showing promise given that its ROCE is trending up and to the right. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 95% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. So it's likely that the business is now reaping the full benefits of its past investments, since the capital employed hasn't changed considerably. On that front, things are looking good so it's worth exploring what management has said about growth plans going forward.

On a side note, we noticed that the improvement in ROCE appears to be partly fueled by an increase in current liabilities. Effectively this means that suppliers or short-term creditors are now funding 48% of the business, which is more than it was five years ago. Given it's pretty high ratio, we'd remind investors that having current liabilities at those levels can bring about some risks in certain businesses.

The Bottom Line

In summary, we're delighted to see that Finning International has been able to increase efficiencies and earn higher rates of return on the same amount of capital. Since the stock has returned a solid 73% to shareholders over the last five years, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Finning International can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

If you'd like to know more about Finning International, we've spotted 2 warning signs, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets 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.