Returns On Capital Are Showing Encouraging Signs At Anton Oilfield Services Group (HKG:3337)

If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Anton Oilfield Services Group's (HKG:3337) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

Understanding 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. The formula for this calculation on Anton Oilfield Services Group is:

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

0.073 = CN¥345m ÷ (CN¥7.5b - CN¥2.8b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

So, Anton Oilfield Services Group has an ROCE of 7.3%. On its own that's a low return, but compared to the average of 4.1% generated by the Energy Services industry, it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Anton Oilfield Services Group

In the above chart we have measured Anton Oilfield Services Group'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.

How Are Returns Trending?

Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 7.3%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 30% more capital is being employed now too. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

What We Can Learn From Anton Oilfield Services Group's ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Anton Oilfield Services Group 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. Given the stock has declined 58% in the last five years, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.

Anton Oilfield Services Group does have some risks though, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Anton Oilfield Services Group that you might be interested in.

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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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.