What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. And in light of that, the trends we're seeing at PetroTal's (TSE:TAL) look very promising so lets take a look.

What Is 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. To calculate this metric for PetroTal, this is the formula:

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

0.32 = US$193m ÷ (US$700m - US$96m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

So, PetroTal has an ROCE of 32%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Oil and Gas industry average of 8.6%.

Check out our latest analysis for PetroTal

Above you can see how the current ROCE for PetroTal compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for PetroTal .

How Are Returns Trending?

The fact that PetroTal is now generating some pre-tax profits from its prior investments is very encouraging. Shareholders would no doubt be pleased with this because the business was loss-making five years ago but is is now generating 32% on its capital. And unsurprisingly, like most companies trying to break into the black, PetroTal is utilizing 602% more capital than it was five years ago. We like this trend, because it tells us the company has profitable reinvestment opportunities available to it, and if it continues going forward that can lead to a multi-bagger performance.

In Conclusion...

In summary, it's great to see that PetroTal has managed to break into profitability and is continuing to reinvest in its business. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

If you want to know some of the risks facing PetroTal we've found 2 warning signs (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.