There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Although, when we looked at Oji Holdings (TSE:3861), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
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 Oji Holdings:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.036 = JP¥65b ÷ (JP¥2.7t - JP¥868b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).
Thus, Oji Holdings has an ROCE of 3.6%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Forestry industry average of 3.3%.
View our latest analysis for Oji Holdings
In the above chart we have measured Oji Holdings' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Oji Holdings .
In terms of Oji Holdings' historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 7.6% over the last five years. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.
To conclude, we've found that Oji Holdings is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. And with the stock having returned a mere 14% in the last five years to shareholders, you could argue that they're aware of these lackluster trends. So if you're looking for a multi-bagger, the underlying trends indicate you may have better chances elsewhere.
Oji Holdings does have some risks though, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Oji Holdings that you might be interested in.
While Oji Holdings 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. 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.