Will SPT Energy Group's (HKG:1251) Growth In ROCE Persist?

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base 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 on that note, SPT Energy Group (HKG:1251) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for SPT Energy Group, this is the formula:

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

0.15 = CN¥260m ÷ (CN¥2.9b - CN¥1.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

Therefore, SPT Energy Group has an ROCE of 15%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Energy Services industry average of 11% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for SPT Energy Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for SPT Energy Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for SPT Energy Group.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

We're delighted to see that SPT Energy Group is reaping rewards from its investments and has now broken into profitability. While the business was unprofitable in the past, it's now turned things around and is earning 15% on its capital. On top of that, what's interesting is that the amount of capital being employed has remained steady, so the business hasn't needed to put any additional money to work to generate these higher returns. So while we're happy that the business is more efficient, just keep in mind that could mean that going forward the business is lacking areas to invest internally for growth. Because in the end, a business can only get so efficient.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, we're delighted to see that SPT Energy Group has been able to increase efficiencies and earn higher rates of return on the same amount of capital. And since the stock has fallen 41% over the last five years, there might be an opportunity here. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.

On a separate note, we've found 2 warning signs for SPT Energy Group you'll probably want to know about.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.

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