There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Although, when we looked at Perennial Energy Holdings (HKG:2798), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Perennial Energy Holdings:

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

0.16 = CN¥564m ÷ (CN¥4.9b - CN¥1.4b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

Therefore, Perennial Energy Holdings has an ROCE of 16%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 12% generated by the Metals and Mining industry.

View our latest analysis for Perennial Energy Holdings

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of Perennial Energy Holdings.

The Trend Of ROCE

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Perennial Energy Holdings doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 16% from 22% 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.

What We Can Learn From Perennial Energy Holdings' ROCE

To conclude, we've found that Perennial Energy Holdings is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 70% in the last five years. On the whole, we aren't too inspired by the underlying trends and we think there may be better chances of finding a multi-bagger elsewhere.

On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for Perennial Energy Holdings you'll probably want to know about.

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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.