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. 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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. With that in mind, the ROCE of Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE) looks great, so lets see what the trend can tell us.

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

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. The formula for this calculation on Grand Canyon Education is:

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

0.30 = US$259m ÷ (US$1.0b - US$160m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

So, Grand Canyon Education has an ROCE of 30%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 7.6% earned by companies in a similar industry.

In the above chart we have measured Grand Canyon Education's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Grand Canyon Education .

How Are Returns Trending?

Grand Canyon Education has not disappointed in regards to ROCE growth. We found that the returns on capital employed over the last five years have risen by 69%. That's not bad because this tells for every dollar invested (capital employed), the company is increasing the amount earned from that dollar. Interestingly, the business may be becoming more efficient because it's applying 41% less capital than it was five years ago. A business that's shrinking its asset base like this isn't usually typical of a soon to be multi-bagger company.

The Bottom Line

In a nutshell, we're pleased to see that Grand Canyon Education has been able to generate higher returns from less capital. Since the stock has only returned 30% to shareholders over the last five years, the promising fundamentals may not be recognized yet by investors. Given that, we'd look further into this stock in case it has more traits that could make it multiply in the long term.

While Grand Canyon Education looks impressive, no company is worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic for LOPE helps visualize whether it is currently trading for a fair price.

High returns are a key ingredient to strong performance, so check out our free list ofstocks earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.