Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. And in light of that, the trends we're seeing at Grange Resources' (ASX:GRR) look very promising so lets take a look.

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. To calculate this metric for Grange Resources, this is the formula:

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

0.28 = AU$224m ÷ (AU$874m – AU$84m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Therefore, Grange Resources has an ROCE of 28%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Metals and Mining industry average of 8.9%.

See our latest analysis for Grange Resources

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Grange Resources' ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating Grange Resources' past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

So How Is Grange Resources' ROCE Trending?

The fact that Grange Resources is now generating some pre-tax profits from its prior investments is very encouraging. About five years ago the company was generating losses but things have turned around because it's now earning 28% on its capital. And unsurprisingly, like most companies trying to break into the black, Grange Resources is utilizing 159% more capital than it was five years ago. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, both common traits of a multi-bagger.

What We Can Learn From Grange Resources' ROCE

Overall, Grange Resources gets a big tick from us thanks in most part to the fact that it is now profitable and is reinvesting in its business. And a remarkable 789% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.

One more thing to note, we've identified 1 warning sign with Grange Resources and understanding this should be part of your investment process.

If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high returns on equity.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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