If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So when we looked at Akzo Nobel (AMS:AKZA) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Akzo Nobel:

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

0.13 = €1.1b ÷ (€14b - €5.5b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Thus, Akzo Nobel has an ROCE of 13%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 11% generated by the Chemicals industry.

See our latest analysis for Akzo Nobel

In the above chart we have measured Akzo Nobel's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Akzo Nobel for free.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

Akzo Nobel is showing promise given that its ROCE is trending up and to the right. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 82% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. So our take on this is that the business has increased efficiencies to generate these higher returns, all the while not needing to make any additional investments. 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.

For the record though, there was a noticeable increase in the company's current liabilities over the period, so we would attribute some of the ROCE growth to that. Effectively this means that suppliers or short-term creditors are now funding 38% of the business, which is more than it was five years ago. Keep an eye out for future increases because when the ratio of current liabilities to total assets gets particularly high, this can introduce some new risks for the business.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, we're delighted to see that Akzo Nobel has been able to increase efficiencies and earn higher rates of return on the same amount of capital. Astute investors may have an opportunity here because the stock has declined 24% in the last five years. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.

If you'd like to know more about Akzo Nobel, we've spotted 2 warning signs, and 1 of them is significant.

While Akzo Nobel isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.