Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. That's why when we briefly looked at Yankuang Energy Group's (HKG:1171) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.

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

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Yankuang Energy Group, this is the formula:

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

0.11 = CN¥27b ÷ (CN¥359b - CN¥117b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

Thus, Yankuang Energy Group has an ROCE of 11%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Oil and Gas industry average of 6.5% it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Yankuang Energy Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Yankuang Energy Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Yankuang Energy Group .

What Does the ROCE Trend For Yankuang Energy Group Tell Us?

While the current returns on capital are decent, they haven't changed much. The company has employed 54% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 11%. 11% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Yankuang Energy Group has consistently earned this amount. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.

The Bottom Line On Yankuang Energy Group's ROCE

In the end, Yankuang Energy Group has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. And long term investors would be thrilled with the 418% return they've received over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.

One final note, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Yankuang Energy Group (including 1 which is potentially serious) .

While Yankuang Energy Group 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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