Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group (HKG:1250) Is Looking To Continue Growing Its Returns On Capital

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. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group (HKG:1250) so let's look a bit deeper.

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 Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group, this is the formula:

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

0.059 = HK$2.4b ÷ (HK$59b - HK$18b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

Thus, Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group has an ROCE of 5.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Renewable Energy industry average of 6.8%.

View our latest analysis for Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Beijing Enterprises Clean 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 Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 5.9%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 857%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 31%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books.

What We Can Learn From Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group's ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy 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. Astute investors may have an opportunity here because the stock has declined 54% in the last five years. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.

Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group does have some risks though, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy 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.

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.

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