What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing 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 ran our eye over Zhejiang Jianye Chemical's (SHSE:603948) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.
If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Zhejiang Jianye Chemical:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.15 = CN¥308m ÷ (CN¥2.5b - CN¥470m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).
So, Zhejiang Jianye Chemical has an ROCE of 15%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 5.5% generated by the Chemicals industry.
View our latest analysis for Zhejiang Jianye Chemical
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Zhejiang Jianye Chemical's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of Zhejiang Jianye Chemical.
The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. The company has employed 139% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 15%. 15% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Zhejiang Jianye Chemical has consistently earned this amount. Over long periods of time, returns like these might not be too exciting, but with consistency they can pay off in terms of share price returns.
In the end, Zhejiang Jianye Chemical has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. Yet over the last three years the stock has declined 40%, so the decline might provide an opening. That's why we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the fundamentals are appealing.
If you want to continue researching Zhejiang Jianye Chemical, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.
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.