Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. That's why when we briefly looked at Jyothy Labs' (NSE:JYOTHYLAB) ROCE trend, we were very happy with 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. The formula for this calculation on Jyothy Labs is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.23 = ₹4.6b ÷ (₹25b - ₹5.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).
Thus, Jyothy Labs has an ROCE of 23%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Household Products industry average of 11%.
See our latest analysis for Jyothy Labs
In the above chart we have measured Jyothy Labs' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Jyothy Labs for free.
We'd be pretty happy with returns on capital like Jyothy Labs. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 23% and the business has deployed 49% more capital into its operations. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 23%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If Jyothy Labs can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.
One more thing to note, even though ROCE has remained relatively flat over the last five years, the reduction in current liabilities to 20% of total assets, is good to see from a business owner's perspective. Effectively suppliers now fund less of the business, which can lower some elements of risk.
In short, we'd argue Jyothy Labs has the makings of a multi-bagger since its been able to compound its capital at very profitable rates of return. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 250% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
On a final note, we've found 1 warning sign for Jyothy Labs that we think you should be aware of.
Jyothy Labs is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.
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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.