We Like These Underlying Return On Capital Trends At Man Yue Technology Holdings (HKG:894)

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. So when we looked at Man Yue Technology Holdings (HKG:894) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Man Yue Technology Holdings:

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

0.071 = HK$122m ÷ (HK$3.4b - HK$1.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

So, Man Yue Technology Holdings has an ROCE of 7.1%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Electronic industry average of 7.9%.

Check out our latest analysis for Man Yue Technology Holdings

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Man Yue Technology Holdings has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

So How Is Man Yue Technology Holdings' ROCE Trending?

We're delighted to see that Man Yue Technology Holdings is reaping rewards from its investments and has now broken into profitability. The company was generating losses five years ago, but has managed to turn it around and as we saw earlier is now earning 7.1%, which is always encouraging. While returns have increased, the amount of capital employed by Man Yue Technology Holdings has remained flat over the period. 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.

On a side note, we noticed that the improvement in ROCE appears to be partly fueled by an increase in current liabilities. Essentially the business now has suppliers or short-term creditors funding about 49% of its operations, which isn't ideal. Given it's pretty high ratio, we'd remind investors that having current liabilities at those levels can bring about some risks in certain businesses.

The Bottom Line

To sum it up, Man Yue Technology Holdings is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. And with a respectable 56% awarded to those who held the stock over the last five years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

One final note, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Man Yue Technology Holdings (including 1 which is potentially serious) .

While Man Yue Technology Holdings 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. 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.