Wesdome Gold Mines (TSE:WDO) Is Doing The Right Things To Multiply Its Share Price

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Wesdome Gold Mines' (TSE:WDO) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on Wesdome Gold Mines is:

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

0.15 = CA$71m ÷ (CA$532m - CA$49m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).

Thus, Wesdome Gold Mines has an ROCE of 15%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Metals and Mining industry average of 3.7% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Wesdome Gold Mines

In the above chart we have measured Wesdome Gold Mines' 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 Wesdome Gold Mines here for free.

How Are Returns Trending?

Investors would be pleased with what's happening at Wesdome Gold Mines. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 15%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 256% more capital is being employed now too. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.

What We Can Learn From Wesdome Gold Mines' ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Wesdome Gold Mines can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. Since the stock has returned a staggering 394% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Wesdome Gold Mines can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for Wesdome Gold Mines you'll probably want to know about.

While Wesdome Gold Mines may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list 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.