Investors Will Want Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical's (TADAWUL:2380) Growth In ROCE To Persist

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So on that note, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical (TADAWUL:2380) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

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. To calculate this metric for Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical, this is the formula:

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

0.039 = ر.س2.0b ÷ (ر.س74b - ر.س23b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

Therefore, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical has an ROCE of 3.9%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 3.9%, it's still a low return by itself.

See our latest analysis for Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical 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 Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical here for free.

How Are Returns Trending?

Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical has broken into the black (profitability) and we're sure it's a sight for sore eyes. The company now earns 3.9% on its capital, because five years ago it was incurring losses. Interestingly, the capital employed by the business has remained relatively flat, so these higher returns are either from prior investments paying off or increased efficiencies. With no noticeable increase in capital employed, it's worth knowing what the company plans on doing going forward in regards to reinvesting and growing the business. After all, a company can only become a long term multi-bagger if it continually reinvests in itself at high rates of return.

On a side note, we noticed that the improvement in ROCE appears to be partly fueled by an increase in current liabilities. The current liabilities has increased to 31% of total assets, so the business is now more funded by the likes of its suppliers or short-term creditors. It's worth keeping an eye on this because as the percentage of current liabilities to total assets increases, some aspects of risk also increase.

In Conclusion...

To sum it up, Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. And a remarkable 194% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical, we've discovered 2 warning signs that you should be aware of.

While Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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