To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Admiralty Resources (ASX:ADY) so let's look a bit deeper.

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. To calculate this metric for Admiralty Resources, this is the formula:

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

0.0095 = AU$175k ÷ (AU$23m – AU$4.6m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

Thus, Admiralty Resources has an ROCE of 0.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Metals and Mining industry average of 9.9%.

Check out our latest analysis for Admiralty Resources

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you're interested in investigating Admiralty Resources' past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

So How Is Admiralty Resources' ROCE Trending?

Shareholders will be relieved that Admiralty Resources has broken into profitability. The company was generating losses five years ago, but has managed to turn it around and as we saw earlier is now earning 0.9%, 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. Because in the end, a business can only get so efficient.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, we're delighted to see that Admiralty Resources has been able to increase efficiencies and earn higher rates of return on the same amount of capital. Astute investors may have an opportunity here because the stock has declined 16% in the last five years. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.

Admiralty Resources does have some risks, we noticed 4 warning signs (and 2 which are concerning) we think you should know about.

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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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