To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base 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 looked at e-SeikatsuLtd (TSE:3796) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.
What Is 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for e-SeikatsuLtd:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.10 = JP¥197m ÷ (JP¥2.5b - JP¥573m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
Therefore, e-SeikatsuLtd has an ROCE of 10%. In isolation, that's a pretty standard return but against the IT industry average of 16%, it's not as good.
See our latest analysis for e-SeikatsuLtd
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 e-SeikatsuLtd's past further, check out this free graph covering e-SeikatsuLtd's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
Shareholders will be relieved that e-SeikatsuLtd has broken into profitability. While the business was unprofitable in the past, it's now turned things around and is earning 10% on its capital. On top of that, what's interesting is that the amount of capital being employed has remained steady, so the business hasn't needed to put any additional money to work to generate these higher returns. With no noticeable increase in capital employed, it's worth knowing what the company plans on doing going forward in regards to reinvesting and growing the business. So if you're looking for high growth, you'll want to see a business's capital employed also increasing.
In Conclusion...
To bring it all together, e-SeikatsuLtd has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. And investors seem to expect more of this going forward, since the stock has rewarded shareholders with a 82% return over the last five years. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if e-SeikatsuLtd can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.
Like most companies, e-SeikatsuLtd does come with some risks, and we've found 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.
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.
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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.
About TSE:3796
Flawless balance sheet slight.
