What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Autosports Group's (ASX:ASG) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

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

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Autosports Group:

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

0.18 = AU$159m ÷ (AU$1.7b - AU$796m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Therefore, Autosports Group has an ROCE of 18%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 18%.

See our latest analysis for Autosports Group

In the above chart we have measured Autosports Group's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Autosports Group .

What Does the ROCE Trend For Autosports Group Tell Us?

The trends we've noticed at Autosports Group are quite reassuring. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 18%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 56%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Autosports Group thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

Another thing to note, Autosports Group has a high ratio of current liabilities to total assets of 47%. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

What We Can Learn From Autosports Group's ROCE

All in all, it's terrific to see that Autosports Group is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Since the stock has returned a staggering 178% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.