If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. 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 Tencent Music Entertainment Group's (NYSE:TME) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

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

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Tencent Music Entertainment Group:

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

0.089 = CN¥6.2b ÷ (CN¥82b - CN¥13b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Thus, Tencent Music Entertainment Group has an ROCE of 8.9%. On its own, that's a low figure but it's around the 11% average generated by the Entertainment industry.

In the above chart we have measured Tencent Music Entertainment Group's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Tencent Music Entertainment Group .

So How Is Tencent Music Entertainment Group's ROCE Trending?

We're glad to see that ROCE is heading in the right direction, even if it is still low at the moment. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 8.9%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 66%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

Our Take On Tencent Music Entertainment Group's ROCE

To sum it up, Tencent Music Entertainment Group has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. Given the stock has declined 20% in the last five years, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.

On the other side of ROCE, we have to consider valuation. That's why we have a FREE intrinsic value estimation for TME on our platform that is definitely worth checking out.

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.