If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Archer-Daniels-Midland's (NYSE:ADM) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Archer-Daniels-Midland:

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

0.087 = US$3.0b ÷ (US$53b - US$19b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

So, Archer-Daniels-Midland has an ROCE of 8.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Food industry average of 11%.

In the above chart we have measured Archer-Daniels-Midland'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 Archer-Daniels-Midland .

So How Is Archer-Daniels-Midland's ROCE Trending?

Archer-Daniels-Midland's ROCE growth is quite impressive. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 66% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. So our take on this is that the business has increased efficiencies to generate these higher returns, all the while not needing to make any additional investments. The company is doing well in that sense, and it's worth investigating what the management team has planned for long term growth prospects.

The Bottom Line

To bring it all together, Archer-Daniels-Midland has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. And with a respectable 67% awarded to those who held the stock over the last five years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

Archer-Daniels-Midland does have some risks, we noticed 2 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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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.