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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. If you see this, it typically means it’s a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. In light of that, when we looked at Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad (KLSE:AJI) and its ROCE trend, we weren’t exactly thrilled.
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. The formula for this calculation on Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets – Current Liabilities)
0.032 = RM19m ÷ (RM742m – RM137m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).
Therefore, Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad has an ROCE of 3.2%. In absolute terms, that’s a low return and it also under-performs the Food industry average of 8.5%.
Check out our latest analysis for Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad’s ROCE against it’s prior returns. If you’d like to look at how Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
When we looked at the ROCE trend at Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad, we didn’t gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 3.2% from 13% five years ago. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.
On a side note, Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad’s current liabilities have increased over the last five years to 18% of total assets, effectively distorting the ROCE to some degree. If current liabilities hadn’t increased as much as they did, the ROCE could actually be even lower. Keep an eye on this ratio, because the business could encounter some new risks if this metric gets too high.
What We Can Learn From Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad’s ROCE
In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we’re encouraged to see that Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And there could be an opportunity here if other metrics look good too, because the stock has declined 25% in the last five years. As a result, we’d recommend researching this stock further to uncover what other fundamentals of the business can show us.
On a final note, we’ve found 1 warning sign for Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad that we think you should be aware of.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
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