Bojun Education's (HKG:1758) Returns On Capital Not Reflecting Well On The Business

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. In light of that, when we looked at Bojun Education (HKG:1758) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

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 Bojun Education is:

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

0.019 = CN¥53m ÷ (CN¥4.0b - CN¥1.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to August 2024).

Thus, Bojun Education has an ROCE of 1.9%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Consumer Services industry average of 11%.

See our latest analysis for Bojun Education

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Bojun Education'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 Bojun Education.

So How Is Bojun Education's ROCE Trending?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Bojun Education doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 4.1% over the last five years. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

On a related note, Bojun Education has decreased its current liabilities to 31% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

The Bottom Line

While returns have fallen for Bojun Education in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. And there could be an opportunity here if other metrics look good too, because the stock has declined 52% in the last five years. So we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the trends look encouraging.

Bojun Education does come with some risks though, we found 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...

While Bojun Education 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.