Yahoo Finance James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX) Is Reinvesting To Multiply In Value
There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So, when we ran our eye over James Hardie Industries' (ASX:JHX) trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on James Hardie Industries is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.21 = US$778m ÷ (US$4.5b - US$697m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).
So, James Hardie Industries has an ROCE of 21%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Basic Materials industry average of 3.5%.
View our latest analysis for James Hardie Industries
In the above chart we have measured James Hardie Industries' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
What Can We Tell From James Hardie Industries' ROCE Trend?
We'd be pretty happy with returns on capital like James Hardie Industries. The company has consistently earned 21% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 93% in that time. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 21%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If James Hardie Industries can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.
What We Can Learn From James Hardie Industries' ROCE
James Hardie Industries has demonstrated its proficiency by generating high returns on increasing amounts of capital employed, which we're thrilled about. And since the stock has risen strongly over the last five years, it appears the market might expect this trend to continue. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for James Hardie Industries (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should know about.
James Hardie Industries is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.
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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.
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