There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Tectona's (TLV:TECT) returns on capital, so let's have a look.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Tectona is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.057 = US$705k ÷ (US$13m - US$902k) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).
Thus, Tectona has an ROCE of 5.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Software industry average of 18%.
View our latest analysis for Tectona
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're interested in investigating Tectona's past further, check out this free graph covering Tectona's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What Does the ROCE Trend For Tectona Tell Us?
We're delighted to see that Tectona is reaping rewards from its investments and is now generating some pre-tax profits. The company was generating losses five years ago, but now it's earning 5.7% which is a sight for sore eyes. And unsurprisingly, like most companies trying to break into the black, Tectona is utilizing 321% more capital than it was five years ago. This can tell us that the company has plenty of reinvestment opportunities that are able to generate higher returns.
In another part of our analysis, we noticed that the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets decreased to 6.7%, which broadly means the business is relying less on its suppliers or short-term creditors to fund its operations. So shareholders would be pleased that the growth in returns has mostly come from underlying business performance.
The Key Takeaway
Overall, Tectona gets a big tick from us thanks in most part to the fact that it is now profitable and is reinvesting in its business. Investors may not be impressed by the favorable underlying trends yet because over the last five years the stock has only returned 35% to shareholders. Given that, we'd look further into this stock in case it has more traits that could make it multiply in the long term.
Tectona does have some risks, we noticed 6 warning signs (and 2 which are concerning) we think you should know about.
While Tectona isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
Valuation is complex, but we're here to simplify it.
Discover if Tectona might be undervalued or overvalued with our detailed analysis, featuring fair value estimates, potential risks, dividends, insider trades, and its financial condition.
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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.