We Like Zimplats Holdings' (ASX:ZIM) Returns And Here's How They're Trending
Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Zimplats Holdings' (ASX:ZIM) returns on capital, so let's have a look.
Understanding 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 Zimplats Holdings is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.20 = US$285m ÷ (US$1.5b - US$151m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019).
Thus, Zimplats Holdings has an ROCE of 20%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Metals and Mining industry average of 9.8%.
Check out our latest analysis for Zimplats Holdings
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 want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of Zimplats Holdings, check out these free graphs here.
So How Is Zimplats Holdings' ROCE Trending?
Zimplats Holdings' ROCE growth is quite impressive. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 114% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. So it's likely that the business is now reaping the full benefits of its past investments, since the capital employed hasn't changed considerably. It's worth looking deeper into this though because while it's great that the business is more efficient, it might also mean that going forward the areas to invest internally for the organic growth are lacking.
What We Can Learn From Zimplats Holdings' ROCE
To sum it up, Zimplats Holdings is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. Since the stock has returned a staggering 103% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.
On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for Zimplats Holdings you'll probably want to 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.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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