There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount 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. Having said that, from a first glance at Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

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Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Gentex, this is the formula:

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

0.19 = US$469m ÷ (US$2.8b - US$253m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

So, Gentex has an ROCE of 19%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Auto Components industry average of 11% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Gentex

In the above chart we have measured Gentex's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Gentex for free.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Gentex Tell Us?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Gentex doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 19% from 24% five years ago. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

The Bottom Line

Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Gentex's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And with the stock having returned a mere 19% in the last five years to shareholders, you could argue that they're aware of these lackluster trends. As a result, if you're hunting for a multi-bagger, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.

Gentex could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation for GNTX on our platform quite valuable.

While Gentex 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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