We Think Finning International (TSE:FTT) Might Have The DNA Of A Multi-Bagger

If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So when we looked at the ROCE trend of Finning International (TSE:FTT) we really liked what we saw.

Understanding 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 Finning International is:

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

0.20 = CA$766m ÷ (CA$7.3b - CA$3.4b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

So, Finning International has an ROCE of 20%. While that is an outstanding return, the rest of the Trade Distributors industry generates similar returns, on average.

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, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Finning International here for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

Finning International's ROCE growth is quite impressive. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 82% 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. The company is doing well in that sense, and it's worth investigating what the management team has planned for long term growth prospects.

On a side note, we noticed that the improvement in ROCE appears to be partly fueled by an increase in current liabilities. Essentially the business now has suppliers or short-term creditors funding about 47% of its operations, which isn't ideal. And with current liabilities at those levels, that's pretty high.

The Key Takeaway

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. Considering the stock has delivered 27% 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. Given that, we'd look further into this stock in case it has more traits that could make it multiply in the long term.

If you want to know some of the risks facing Finning International we've found 2 warning signs (1 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Finning International 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.