What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Scorpio Tankers' (NYSE:STNG) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

What Is 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Scorpio Tankers:

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

0.20 = US$713m ÷ (US$3.8b - US$242m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

Thus, Scorpio Tankers has an ROCE of 20%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 12% earned by companies in a similar industry.

In the above chart we have measured Scorpio Tankers' 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 Scorpio Tankers .

What Can We Tell From Scorpio Tankers' ROCE Trend?

We're pretty happy with how the ROCE has been trending at Scorpio Tankers. The figures show that over the last five years, returns on capital have grown by 836%. That's a very favorable trend because this means that the company is earning more per dollar of capital that's being employed. Speaking of capital employed, the company is actually utilizing 23% less than it was five years ago, which can be indicative of a business that's improving its efficiency. A business that's shrinking its asset base like this isn't usually typical of a soon to be multi-bagger company.

What We Can Learn From Scorpio Tankers' ROCE

In a nutshell, we're pleased to see that Scorpio Tankers has been able to generate higher returns from less capital. And investors seem to expect more of this going forward, since the stock has rewarded shareholders with a 77% return over the last five years. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.

Scorpio Tankers does have some risks, we noticed 2 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.

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.

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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.