If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Hor Kew's (SGX:BBP) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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 Hor Kew:

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

0.017 = S$1.6m ÷ (S$160m - S$62m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

Therefore, Hor Kew has an ROCE of 1.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Construction industry average of 3.4%.

Check out our latest analysis for Hor Kew

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you're interested in investigating Hor Kew's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

How Are Returns Trending?

While the ROCE is still rather low for Hor Kew, we're glad to see it heading in the right direction. The data shows that returns on capital have increased by 112% over the trailing five years. That's a very favorable trend because this means that the company is earning more per dollar of capital that's being employed. Speaking of capital employed, the company is actually utilizing 22% less than it was five years ago, which can be indicative of a business that's improving its efficiency. If this trend continues, the business might be getting more efficient but it's shrinking in terms of total assets.

For the record though, there was a noticeable increase in the company's current liabilities over the period, so we would attribute some of the ROCE growth to that. Effectively this means that suppliers or short-term creditors are now funding 39% of the business, which is more than it was five years ago. It's worth keeping an eye on this because as the percentage of current liabilities to total assets increases, some aspects of risk also increase.

In Conclusion...

In a nutshell, we're pleased to see that Hor Kew has been able to generate higher returns from less capital. Astute investors may have an opportunity here because the stock has declined 47% in the last five years. That being the case, research into the company's current valuation metrics and future prospects seems fitting.