Yahoo Finance Investors Could Be Concerned With BAUER's (HMSE:B5A) Returns On Capital
What financial metrics can indicate to us that a company is maturing or even in decline? Typically, we'll see the trend of both return on capital employed (ROCE) declining and this usually coincides with a decreasing amount of capital employed. This indicates the company is producing less profit from its investments and its total assets are decreasing. So after we looked into BAUER (HMSE:B5A), the trends above didn't look too great.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for BAUER, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.018 = €16m ÷ (€1.7b - €809m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
Thus, BAUER has an ROCE of 1.8%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Construction industry average of 10%.
View our latest analysis for BAUER
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're interested in investigating BAUER's past further, check out this free graph covering BAUER's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
How Are Returns Trending?
We are a bit worried about the trend of returns on capital at BAUER. To be more specific, the ROCE was 7.5% five years ago, but since then it has dropped noticeably. Meanwhile, capital employed in the business has stayed roughly the flat over the period. This combination can be indicative of a mature business that still has areas to deploy capital, but the returns received aren't as high due potentially to new competition or smaller margins. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect BAUER to turn into a multi-bagger.
On a separate but related note, it's important to know that BAUER has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 49%, which we'd consider pretty high. 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.
The Bottom Line
In the end, the trend of lower returns on the same amount of capital isn't typically an indication that we're looking at a growth stock. Long term shareholders who've owned the stock over the last year have experienced a 24% depreciation in their investment, so it appears the market might not like these trends either. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.
On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for BAUER you'll probably want to know about.
While BAUER may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list 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.
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