Capital Investment Trends At KRBL (NSE:KRBL) Look Strong

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. So, when we ran our eye over KRBL's (NSE:KRBL) trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

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 KRBL is:

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

0.21 = ₹7.6b ÷ (₹40b - ₹4.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Thus, KRBL has an ROCE of 21%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 12% earned by companies in a similar industry.

Check out our latest analysis for KRBL

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 KRBL, check out these free graphs here.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

KRBL deserves to be commended in regards to it's returns. The company has consistently earned 21% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 114% in that time. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 21%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If these trends can continue, it wouldn't surprise us if the company became a multi-bagger.

One more thing to note, even though ROCE has remained relatively flat over the last five years, the reduction in current liabilities to 10% of total assets, is good to see from a business owner's perspective. This can eliminate some of the risks inherent in the operations because the business has less outstanding obligations to their suppliers and or short-term creditors than they did previously.

The Bottom Line

In the end, the company has proven it can reinvest it's capital at high rates of returns, which you'll remember is a trait of a multi-bagger. However, despite the favorable fundamentals, the stock has fallen 22% over the last five years, so there might be an opportunity here for astute investors. For that reason, savvy investors might want to look further into this company in case it's a prime investment.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing KRBL, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

KRBL 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. 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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