What Can The Trends At Howteh Technology (GTSM:3114) Tell Us About Their Returns?

What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. 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 Howteh Technology's (GTSM:3114) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

What is 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. The formula for this calculation on Howteh Technology is:

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

0.11 = NT$122m ÷ (NT$2.2b - NT$1.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

So, Howteh Technology has an ROCE of 11%. By itself that's a normal return on capital and it's in line with the industry's average returns of 11%.

See our latest analysis for Howteh Technology

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 want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of Howteh Technology, check out these free graphs here.

So How Is Howteh Technology's ROCE Trending?

We like the trends that we're seeing from Howteh Technology. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 11%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 29%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

On a side note, Howteh Technology's current liabilities are still rather high at 51% of total assets. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

The Bottom Line On Howteh Technology's ROCE

All in all, it's terrific to see that Howteh Technology is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Since the stock has returned a staggering 180% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. 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.

On a final note, we've found 4 warning signs for Howteh Technology that we think you should be aware of.

While Howteh Technology 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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