Rand Mining (ASX:RND) Has More To Do To Multiply In Value Going Forward

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So while Rand Mining (ASX:RND) has a high ROCE right now, lets see what we can decipher from how returns are changing.

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. To calculate this metric for Rand Mining, this is the formula:

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

0.22 = AU$21m ÷ (AU$104m - AU$7.4m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

So, Rand Mining has an ROCE of 22%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 8.6% earned by companies in a similar industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Rand Mining

roce

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Rand Mining's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of Rand Mining, check out these free graphs here.

So How Is Rand Mining's ROCE Trending?

Things have been pretty stable at Rand Mining, with its capital employed and returns on that capital staying somewhat the same for the last five years. It's not uncommon to see this when looking at a mature and stable business that isn't re-investing its earnings because it has likely passed that phase of the business cycle. Although current returns are high, we'd need more evidence of underlying growth for it to look like a multi-bagger going forward.

In Conclusion...

Although is allocating it's capital efficiently to generate impressive returns, it isn't compounding its base of capital, which is what we'd see from a multi-bagger. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 13% in the last five years. All in all, the inherent trends aren't typical of multi-baggers, so if that's what you're after, we think you might have more luck elsewhere.

Rand Mining does have some risks, we noticed 3 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets here.

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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.