There's Been No Shortage Of Growth Recently For Columbus Energy's (WSE:CLC) Returns On Capital

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So when we looked at Columbus Energy (WSE:CLC) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Understanding 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. The formula for this calculation on Columbus Energy is:

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

0.12 = zł55m ÷ (zł730m - zł263m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).

Therefore, Columbus Energy has an ROCE of 12%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 11% generated by the Electrical industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Columbus Energy

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 Columbus Energy's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Columbus Energy Tell Us?

The trends we've noticed at Columbus Energy are quite reassuring. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 12%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 733%. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.

On a side note, we noticed that the improvement in ROCE appears to be partly fueled by an increase in current liabilities. Effectively this means that suppliers or short-term creditors are now funding 36% of the business, which is more than it was five years ago. Keep an eye out for future increases because when the ratio of current liabilities to total assets gets particularly high, this can introduce some new risks for the business.

The Bottom Line On Columbus Energy's ROCE

All in all, it's terrific to see that Columbus Energy is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Since the stock has returned a staggering 513% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

Columbus Energy does have some risks, we noticed 5 warning signs (and 3 which are a bit concerning) we think you should know about.

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.