Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. So on that note, Gushengtang Holdings (HKG:2273) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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 Gushengtang Holdings:

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

0.10 = CN¥284m ÷ (CN¥3.4b - CN¥645m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Thus, Gushengtang Holdings has an ROCE of 10%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 8.2% generated by the Healthcare industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Gushengtang Holdings

In the above chart we have measured Gushengtang 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 Gushengtang Holdings .

What Does the ROCE Trend For Gushengtang Holdings Tell Us?

Gushengtang Holdings is displaying some positive trends. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 10%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 1,077%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

In another part of our analysis, we noticed that the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets decreased to 19%, which broadly means the business is relying less on its suppliers or short-term creditors to fund its operations. So shareholders would be pleased that the growth in returns has mostly come from underlying business performance.

The Key Takeaway

All in all, it's terrific to see that Gushengtang Holdings is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. And since the stock has fallen 19% over the last three years, there might be an opportunity here. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.

Before jumping to any conclusions though, we need to know what value we're getting for the current share price. That's where you can check out our FREE intrinsic value estimation for 2273 that compares the share price and estimated value.

While Gushengtang 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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