Has Gadang Holdings Berhad (KLSE:GADANG) Got What It Takes To Become A Multi-Bagger?

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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Having said that, from a first glance at Gadang Holdings Berhad (KLSE:GADANG) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

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 Gadang Holdings Berhad:

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

0.022 = RM28m ÷ (RM1.8b - RM510m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to November 2020).

Thus, Gadang Holdings Berhad has an ROCE of 2.2%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Construction industry average of 4.8%.

See our latest analysis for Gadang Holdings Berhad

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Gadang Holdings Berhad compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Gadang Holdings Berhad here for free.

What Can We Tell From Gadang Holdings Berhad's ROCE Trend?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Gadang Holdings Berhad, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 2.2% from 16% five years ago. Given the business is employing more capital while revenue has slipped, this is a bit concerning. This could mean that the business is losing its competitive advantage or market share, because while more money is being put into ventures, it's actually producing a lower return - "less bang for their buck" per se.

What We Can Learn From Gadang Holdings Berhad's ROCE

We're a bit apprehensive about Gadang Holdings Berhad because despite more capital being deployed in the business, returns on that capital and sales have both fallen. Long term shareholders who've owned the stock over the last five years have experienced a 45% depreciation in their investment, so it appears the market might not like these trends either. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

Gadang Holdings Berhad does come with some risks though, we found 4 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is potentially serious...

While Gadang Holdings Berhad isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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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