Returns At P.A. Resources Berhad (KLSE:PA) Are On The Way Up

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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in P.A. Resources Berhad's (KLSE:PA) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

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 P.A. Resources Berhad:

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

0.12 = RM17m ÷ (RM160m - RM18m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Thus, P.A. Resources Berhad has an ROCE of 12%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 5.0% generated by the Metals and Mining industry.

See our latest analysis for P.A. Resources Berhad

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'd like to look at how P.A. Resources Berhad has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The fact that P.A. Resources Berhad is now generating some pre-tax profits from its prior investments is very encouraging. Shareholders would no doubt be pleased with this because the business was loss-making five years ago but is is now generating 12% on its capital. Not only that, but the company is utilizing 60% more capital than before, but that's to be expected from a company trying to break into profitability. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, both common traits of a multi-bagger.

On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 11%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books.

What We Can Learn From P.A. Resources Berhad's ROCE

Long story short, we're delighted to see that P.A. Resources Berhad's reinvestment activities have paid off and the company is now profitable. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if P.A. Resources Berhad can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing P.A. Resources Berhad, we've discovered 3 warning signs that you should be aware of.

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