Investors Shouldn't Overlook Elecon Engineering's (NSE:ELECON) Impressive Returns On Capital

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So when we looked at the ROCE trend of Elecon Engineering (NSE:ELECON) we really liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

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 Elecon Engineering is:

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

0.20 = ₹2.4b ÷ (₹16b - ₹3.8b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).

So, Elecon Engineering has an ROCE of 20%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 14% earned by companies in a similar industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Elecon Engineering

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 want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of Elecon Engineering, check out these free graphs here.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Elecon Engineering Tell Us?

The trends we've noticed at Elecon Engineering are quite reassuring. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 20%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 34% more capital is being employed now too. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Elecon Engineering 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 23%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. So shareholders would be pleased that the growth in returns has mostly come from underlying business performance.

What We Can Learn From Elecon Engineering's ROCE

To sum it up, Elecon Engineering has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. Since the stock has returned a staggering 246% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

Before jumping to any conclusions though, we need to know what value we're getting for the current share price. That's where you can check out our FREE intrinsic value estimation that compares the share price and estimated value.

Elecon Engineering is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.

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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.