If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. 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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think Shangri-La Asia (HKG:69) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.

We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Shangri-La Asia:

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

0.016 = US$190m ÷ (US$13b - US$1.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

So, Shangri-La Asia has an ROCE of 1.6%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Hospitality industry average of 7.3%.

Check out our latest analysis for Shangri-La Asia

In the above chart we have measured Shangri-La Asia'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 analyst report for Shangri-La Asia .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

There hasn't been much to report for Shangri-La Asia's returns and its level of capital employed because both metrics have been steady for the past five years. This tells us the company isn't reinvesting in itself, so it's plausible that it's past the growth phase. With that in mind, unless investment picks up again in the future, we wouldn't expect Shangri-La Asia to be a multi-bagger going forward. This probably explains why Shangri-La Asia is paying out 30% of its income to shareholders in the form of dividends. Unless businesses have highly compelling growth opportunities, they'll typically return some money to shareholders.

What We Can Learn From Shangri-La Asia's ROCE

We can conclude that in regards to Shangri-La Asia's returns on capital employed and the trends, there isn't much change to report on. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 12% in the last five years. All in all, the inherent trends aren't typical of multi-baggers, so if that's what you're after, we think you might have more luck elsewhere.

Shangri-La Asia does come with some risks though, we found 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those shouldn't be ignored...

While Shangri-La Asia 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.