What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base 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 Inter-Rock Minerals (CVE:IRO) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Inter-Rock Minerals is:

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

0.14 = US$1.8m ÷ (US$22m - US$9.1m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).

Thus, Inter-Rock Minerals has an ROCE of 14%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Food industry average of 6.1% it's much better.

View our latest analysis for Inter-Rock Minerals

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Inter-Rock Minerals' ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Inter-Rock Minerals has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Inter-Rock Minerals Tell Us?

Inter-Rock Minerals' ROCE growth is quite impressive. The figures show that over the last five years, ROCE has grown 27% whilst employing roughly the same amount of capital. Basically the business is generating higher returns from the same amount of capital and that is proof that there are improvements in the company's efficiencies. 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. Essentially the business now has suppliers or short-term creditors funding about 42% of its operations, which isn't ideal. And with current liabilities at those levels, that's pretty high.

What We Can Learn From Inter-Rock Minerals' ROCE

To bring it all together, Inter-Rock Minerals has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. Since the stock has returned a staggering 159% to shareholders over the last three years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

One more thing: We've identified 2 warning signs with Inter-Rock Minerals (at least 1 which is potentially serious) , and understanding these would certainly be useful.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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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.