Returns On Capital Are Showing Encouraging Signs At Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad (KLSE:CHOOBEE)

If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So when we looked at Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad (KLSE:CHOOBEE) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad, this is the formula:

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

0.036 = RM19m ÷ (RM551m - RM19m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Therefore, Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad has an ROCE of 3.6%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Metals and Mining industry average of 5.0%.

Check out our latest analysis for Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad.

So How Is Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad's ROCE Trending?

Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 582% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. Basically the business is generating higher returns from the same amount of capital and that is proof that there are improvements in the company's efficiencies. On that front, things are looking good so it's worth exploring what management has said about growth plans going forward.

The Key Takeaway

As discussed above, Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad appears to be getting more proficient at generating returns since capital employed has remained flat but earnings (before interest and tax) are up. Since the stock has only returned 39% to shareholders over the last five years, the promising fundamentals may not be recognized yet by investors. Given that, we'd look further into this stock in case it has more traits that could make it multiply in the long term.

Choo Bee Metal Industries Berhad does come with some risks though, we found 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those shouldn't be ignored...

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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