Chudenko's (TSE:1941) Returns On Capital Are Heading Higher

Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Chudenko (TSE:1941) so let's look a bit deeper.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Chudenko is:

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

0.068 = JP¥15b ÷ (JP¥273b - JP¥45b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Thus, Chudenko has an ROCE of 6.8%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Construction industry average of 8.7%.

See our latest analysis for Chudenko

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 Chudenko's past further, check out this free graph covering Chudenko's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

Chudenko has not disappointed with their ROCE growth. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 147% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. So our take on this is that the business has increased efficiencies to generate these higher returns, all the while not needing to make any additional investments. It's worth looking deeper into this though because while it's great that the business is more efficient, it might also mean that going forward the areas to invest internally for the organic growth are lacking.

In Conclusion...

As discussed above, Chudenko appears to be getting more proficient at generating returns since capital employed has remained flat but earnings (before interest and tax) are up. And investors seem to expect more of this going forward, since the stock has rewarded shareholders with a 56% return over the last five years. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.

On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for Chudenko you'll probably want to know about.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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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.