Returns At Trinity Exploration & Production (LON:TRIN) Are On The Way Up

What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. So on that note, Trinity Exploration & Production (LON:TRIN) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

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. To calculate this metric for Trinity Exploration & Production, this is the formula:

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

0.029 = US$2.8m ÷ (US$109m - US$12m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Therefore, Trinity Exploration & Production has an ROCE of 2.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Oil and Gas industry average of 4.0%.

View our latest analysis for Trinity Exploration & Production

In the above chart we have measured Trinity Exploration & Production's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

The Trend Of ROCE

Trinity Exploration & Production has recently broken into profitability so their prior investments seem to be paying off. About five years ago the company was generating losses but things have turned around because it's now earning 2.9% on its capital. Not only that, but the company is utilizing 124% more capital than before, but that's to be expected from a company trying to break into profitability. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, both common traits of a multi-bagger.

In another part of our analysis, we noticed that the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets decreased to 11%, which broadly means the business is relying less on its suppliers or short-term creditors to fund its operations. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books.

The Bottom Line

Long story short, we're delighted to see that Trinity Exploration & Production's reinvestment activities have paid off and the company is now profitable. Since the stock has returned a staggering 427% 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 Trinity Exploration & Production can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing Trinity Exploration & Production, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

While Trinity Exploration & Production isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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