What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. In light of that, when we looked at TS Wonders Holding (HKG:1767) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

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. The formula for this calculation on TS Wonders Holding is:

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

0.077 = S$6.1m ÷ (S$85m - S$5.9m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Therefore, TS Wonders Holding has an ROCE of 7.7%. On its own that's a low return on capital but it's in line with the industry's average returns of 7.7%.

Check out our latest analysis for TS Wonders Holding

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for TS Wonders Holding's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of TS Wonders Holding.

What Can We Tell From TS Wonders Holding's ROCE Trend?

There are better returns on capital out there than what we're seeing at TS Wonders Holding. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 7.7% and the business has deployed 44% more capital into its operations. Given the company has increased the amount of capital employed, it appears the investments that have been made simply don't provide a high return on capital.

The Bottom Line

As we've seen above, TS Wonders Holding's returns on capital haven't increased but it is reinvesting in the business. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 36% in the last five years. All in all, the inherent trends aren't typical of multi-baggers, so if that's what you're after, we think you might have more luck elsewhere.

If you want to continue researching TS Wonders Holding, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

While TS Wonders Holding may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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