Should We Be Excited About The Trends Of Returns At ASM Pacific Technology (HKG:522)?

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Although, when we looked at ASM Pacific Technology (HKG:522), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Understanding 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 ASM Pacific Technology, this is the formula:

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

0.073 = HK$1.3b ÷ (HK$23b - HK$5.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Thus, ASM Pacific Technology has an ROCE of 7.3%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 6.8%, it's still a low return by itself.

See our latest analysis for ASM Pacific Technology

In the above chart we have measured ASM Pacific Technology's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for ASM Pacific Technology.

How Are Returns Trending?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at ASM Pacific Technology, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 7.3% from 14% five years ago. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.

What We Can Learn From ASM Pacific Technology's ROCE

To conclude, we've found that ASM Pacific Technology is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. Since the stock has gained an impressive 93% over the last five years, investors must think there's better things to come. Ultimately, if the underlying trends persist, we wouldn't hold our breath on it being a multi-bagger going forward.

On a final note, we've found 2 warning signs for ASM Pacific Technology that we think you should be aware of.

While ASM Pacific Technology 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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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