If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA's (NYSE:BVN) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

What Is 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. The formula for this calculation on Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA is:

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

0.023 = US$95m ÷ (US$4.6b - US$369m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

So, Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA has an ROCE of 2.3%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Metals and Mining industry average of 9.9%.

In the above chart we have measured Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA for free.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA has broken into the black (profitability) and we're sure it's a sight for sore eyes. The company was generating losses five years ago, but has managed to turn it around and as we saw earlier is now earning 2.3%, which is always encouraging. On top of that, what's interesting is that the amount of capital being employed has remained steady, so the business hasn't needed to put any additional money to work to generate these higher returns. With no noticeable increase in capital employed, it's worth knowing what the company plans on doing going forward in regards to reinvesting and growing the business. After all, a company can only become a long term multi-bagger if it continually reinvests in itself at high rates of return.

The Key Takeaway

To bring it all together, Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. And given the stock has remained rather flat over the last five years, there might be an opportunity here if other metrics are strong. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.

Like most companies, Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA does come with some risks, and we've found 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

While Compañía de Minas BuenaventuraA 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.

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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.