Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Although, when we looked at SG Fleet Group (ASX:SGF), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on SG Fleet Group is:

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

0.094 = AU$178m ÷ (AU$2.8b - AU$937m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Therefore, SG Fleet Group has an ROCE of 9.4%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Commercial Services industry average of 7.8%.

Check out our latest analysis for SG Fleet Group  roce

In the above chart we have measured SG Fleet Group'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 freereport for SG Fleet Group.

The Trend Of ROCE

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at SG Fleet Group doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 24% over the last five years. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

In Conclusion...

While returns have fallen for SG Fleet Group in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. These trends don't appear to have influenced returns though, because the total return from the stock has been mostly flat over 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.



One final note, you should learn about the  2 warning signs  we've spotted with SG Fleet Group (including 1 which can't be ignored) .

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this freelist of companies with solid balance sheets and 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.