What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So when we looked at CECO Environmental (NASDAQ:CECO) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for CECO Environmental:

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

0.087 = US$34m ÷ (US$600m - US$203m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

So, CECO Environmental has an ROCE of 8.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Commercial Services industry average of 9.7%.

View our latest analysis for CECO Environmental

In the above chart we have measured CECO Environmental's 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 analyst report for CECO Environmental .

How Are Returns Trending?

While in absolute terms it isn't a high ROCE, it's promising to see that it has been moving in the right direction. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 8.7%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 35%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

The Bottom Line On CECO Environmental's ROCE

A company that is growing its returns on capital and can consistently reinvest in itself is a highly sought after trait, and that's what CECO Environmental has. Since the stock has returned a staggering 210% 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.

If you want to continue researching CECO Environmental, you might be interested to know about the 2 warning signs that our analysis has discovered.