Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So while Jarir Marketing (TADAWUL:4190) has a high ROCE right now, lets see what we can decipher from how returns are changing.
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 Jarir Marketing:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.42 = ر.س1.1b ÷ (ر.س4.3b - ر.س1.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).
Therefore, Jarir Marketing has an ROCE of 42%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Specialty Retail industry average of 10%.
See our latest analysis for Jarir Marketing
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Jarir Marketing compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Jarir Marketing .
Things have been pretty stable at Jarir Marketing, with its capital employed and returns on that capital staying somewhat the same for the last five years. This tells us the company isn't reinvesting in itself, so it's plausible that it's past the growth phase. So it may not be a multi-bagger in the making, but given the decent 42% return on capital, it'd be difficult to find fault with the business's current operations. That being the case, it makes sense that Jarir Marketing has been paying out 93% of its earnings to its shareholders. If the company is in fact lacking growth opportunities, that's one of the viable alternatives for the money.
Another thing to note, Jarir Marketing has a high ratio of current liabilities to total assets of 40%. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.
While Jarir Marketing has impressive profitability from its capital, it isn't increasing that amount of capital. Additionally, the stock's total return to shareholders over the last five years has been flat, which isn't too surprising. In any case, the stock doesn't have these traits of a multi-bagger discussed above, so if that's what you're looking for, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.
If you're still interested in Jarir Marketing it's worth checking out our FREE intrinsic value approximation for 4190 to see if it's trading at an attractive price in other respects.
If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning 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.