To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in CNOOC's (HKG:883) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for CNOOC:

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

0.21 = CN¥188b ÷ (CN¥1.1t - CN¥167b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

Thus, CNOOC has an ROCE of 21%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Oil and Gas industry average of 6.9%.

View our latest analysis for CNOOC

Above you can see how the current ROCE for CNOOC compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for CNOOC .

What Can We Tell From CNOOC's ROCE Trend?

We like the trends that we're seeing from CNOOC. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 21%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 37%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

The Key Takeaway

A company that is growing its returns on capital and can consistently reinvest in itself is a highly sought after trait, and that's what CNOOC has. Since the stock has returned a staggering 181% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

One more thing: We've identified 2 warning signs with CNOOC (at least 1 which can't be ignored) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.

CNOOC 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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