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. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. 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 Canterbury Park Holding's (NASDAQ:CPHC) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

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. To calculate this metric for Canterbury Park Holding, this is the formula:

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

0.24 = US$18m ÷ (US$86m - US$11m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).

So, Canterbury Park Holding has an ROCE of 24%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 9.9% earned by companies in a similar industry.

See our latest analysis for Canterbury Park Holding

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Canterbury Park Holding 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 Canterbury Park Holding Tell Us?

Canterbury Park Holding is displaying some positive trends. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 24%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 81%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Canterbury Park Holding thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

What We Can Learn From Canterbury Park Holding's ROCE

All in all, it's terrific to see that Canterbury Park Holding is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. And a remarkable 106% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

If you want to continue researching Canterbury Park Holding, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets here.

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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.