If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at OSP (KOSDAQ:368970) so let's look a bit deeper.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for OSP:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.039 = ₩2.2b ÷ (₩74b - ₩17b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).
So, OSP has an ROCE of 3.9%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Food industry average of 7.1%.
Check out our latest analysis for OSP
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for OSP's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating OSP's past further, check out this free graph covering OSP's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
How Are Returns Trending?
Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last one year to 3.9%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 40% more capital is being employed now too. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at OSP thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.
The Bottom Line On OSP's ROCE
All in all, it's terrific to see that OSP is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Given the stock has declined 39% in the last year, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.
OSP does have some risks though, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for OSP that you might be interested in.
While OSP may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.
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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.
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About KOSDAQ:A368970
OSP
Offers organic, natural, and grain-free pet food products in South Korea.
Excellent balance sheet and fair value.