If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? 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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So, when we ran our eye over STV Group's (LON:STVG) trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for STV Group:

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

0.24 = UK£24m ÷ (UK£155m - UK£55m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

Thus, STV Group has an ROCE of 24%.  That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 11% earned by companies in a similar industry.

See our latest analysis for STV Group  roce

Above you can see how the current ROCE for STV Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our freereport for STV Group.

The Trend Of ROCE

STV Group deserves to be commended in regards to it's returns. The company has employed 35% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 24%. Returns like this are the envy of most businesses and given it has repeatedly reinvested at these rates, that's even better. You'll see this when looking at well operated businesses or favorable business models.

Another point to note, we noticed the company has increased current liabilities over the last five years. This is intriguing because if current liabilities hadn't increased to 35% of total assets, this reported ROCE would probably be less than24% because total capital employed would be higher.The 24% ROCE could be even lower if current liabilities weren't 35% of total assets, because the the formula would show a larger base of total capital employed. So while current liabilities isn't high right now, keep an eye out in case it increases further, because this can introduce some elements of risk.



In Conclusion...

In summary, we're delighted to see that STV Group has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. Yet over the last five years the stock has declined 13%, so the decline might provide an opening. That's why we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the fundamentals are appealing.

On a final note, we found 3 warning signs for STV Group (2 are significant)  you should be aware of.

If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this freelist of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high 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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