Time Interconnect Technology (HKG:1729) Knows How To Allocate Capital

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. Ergo, when we looked at the ROCE trends at Time Interconnect Technology (HKG:1729), we liked what we saw.

What Is 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. To calculate this metric for Time Interconnect Technology, this is the formula:

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

0.26 = HK$583m ÷ (HK$5.5b - HK$3.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

So, Time Interconnect Technology has an ROCE of 26%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Electrical industry average of 6.3%.

View our latest analysis for Time Interconnect Technology

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Time Interconnect Technology's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of Time Interconnect Technology.

What Can We Tell From Time Interconnect Technology's ROCE Trend?

In terms of Time Interconnect Technology's history of ROCE, it's quite impressive. The company has consistently earned 26% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 270% in that time. Returns like this are the envy of most businesses and given it has repeatedly reinvested at these rates, that's even better. If Time Interconnect Technology can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.

On another note, while the change in ROCE trend might not scream for attention, it's interesting that the current liabilities have actually gone up over the last five years. This is intriguing because if current liabilities hadn't increased to 59% of total assets, this reported ROCE would probably be less than26% because total capital employed would be higher.The 26% ROCE could be even lower if current liabilities weren't 59% of total assets, because the the formula would show a larger base of total capital employed. So with current liabilities at such high levels, this effectively means the likes of suppliers or short-term creditors are funding a meaningful part of the business, which in some instances can bring some risks.

In Conclusion...

In summary, we're delighted to see that Time Interconnect Technology has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. And long term investors would be thrilled with the 1,025% return they've received over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

Like most companies, Time Interconnect Technology does come with some risks, and we've found 2 warning signs that you should be aware of.

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.