If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Ergo, when we looked at the ROCE trends at Kweichow Moutai (SHSE:600519), we liked what we saw.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Kweichow Moutai:

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

0.42 = CN¥103b ÷ (CN¥286b - CN¥37b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

Thus, Kweichow Moutai has an ROCE of 42%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Beverage industry average of 17%.

In the above chart we have measured Kweichow Moutai'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 Kweichow Moutai .

So How Is Kweichow Moutai's ROCE Trending?

We'd be pretty happy with returns on capital like Kweichow Moutai. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 42% and the business has deployed 92% more capital into its operations. With returns that high, it's great that the business can continually reinvest its money at such appealing rates of return. You'll see this when looking at well operated businesses or favorable business models.

Our Take On Kweichow Moutai's ROCE

In the end, the company has proven it can reinvest it's capital at high rates of returns, which you'll remember is a trait of a multi-bagger. On top of that, the stock has rewarded shareholders with a remarkable 105% return to those who've held over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for Kweichow Moutai you'll probably want to know about.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets 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.