Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. In light of that, when we looked at Schaffer (ASX:SFC) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

What Is 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 Schaffer is:

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

0.11 = AU$37m ÷ (AU$418m - AU$70m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Therefore, Schaffer has an ROCE of 11%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 11%.

See our latest analysis for Schaffer

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'd like to look at how Schaffer has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of Schaffer's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

The Trend Of ROCE

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Schaffer, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 27%, but since then they've fallen to 11%. 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, Schaffer has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 17% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

What We Can Learn From Schaffer's ROCE

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Schaffer is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 86% to shareholders over the last five years. So should these growth trends continue, we'd be optimistic on the stock going forward.