If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, 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. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think Thakral (SGX:AWI) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.
Understanding 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 Thakral:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.026 = S$7.1m ÷ (S$349m - S$79m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).
So, Thakral has an ROCE of 2.6%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Retail Distributors industry average of 5.2%.
Check out our latest analysis for Thakral
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Thakral's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Thakral has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
How Are Returns Trending?
On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Thakral doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 12% over the last five years. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.
In Conclusion...
In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Thakral is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. Furthermore the stock has climbed 76% over the last five years, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So while the underlying trends could already be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
One final note, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Thakral (including 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) .