If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? 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. So, when we ran our eye over Monadelphous Group's (ASX:MND) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.

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. The formula for this calculation on Monadelphous Group is:

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

0.15 = AU$84m ÷ (AU$887m - AU$347m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

So, Monadelphous Group has an ROCE of 15%. By itself that's a normal return on capital and it's in line with the industry's average returns of 15%.

See our latest analysis for Monadelphous Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Monadelphous Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Monadelphous Group .

What Does the ROCE Trend For Monadelphous Group Tell Us?

While the current returns on capital are decent, they haven't changed much. The company has consistently earned 15% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 27% in that time. Since 15% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. 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.

What We Can Learn From Monadelphous Group's ROCE

In the end, Monadelphous Group has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. Despite the good fundamentals, total returns from the stock have been virtually flat over the last five years. That's why we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the fundamentals are appealing.

One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing Monadelphous Group that you might find interesting.

While Monadelphous Group 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.