What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So when we looked at the ROCE trend of Berjaya Food Berhad (KLSE:BJFOOD) we really liked what we saw.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

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 Berjaya Food Berhad:

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

0.22 = RM207m ÷ (RM1.4b - RM460m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

So, Berjaya Food Berhad has an ROCE of 22%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 8.7% earned by companies in a similar industry.

View our latest analysis for Berjaya Food Berhad

In the above chart we have measured Berjaya Food Berhad's 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 report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From Berjaya Food Berhad's ROCE Trend?

Berjaya Food Berhad is displaying some positive trends. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 22%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 79%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, it's great to see that Berjaya Food Berhad can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Berjaya Food Berhad can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for Berjaya Food Berhad you'll probably want to know about.

High returns are a key ingredient to strong performance, so check out our free list ofstocks earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.