Yahoo Finance Microlise Group (LON:SAAS) Will Want To Turn Around Its Return Trends
If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. Although, when we looked at Microlise Group (LON:SAAS), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
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. The formula for this calculation on Microlise Group is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.022 = UK£2.0m ÷ (UK£127m - UK£33m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
So, Microlise Group has an ROCE of 2.2%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Software industry average of 8.0%.
View our latest analysis for Microlise Group
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Microlise Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Microlise Group here for free.
How Are Returns Trending?
When we looked at the ROCE trend at Microlise Group, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 2.2% from 15% five years ago. However it looks like Microlise Group might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.
On a side note, Microlise Group has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 26% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.
The Bottom Line On Microlise Group's ROCE
Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Microlise Group's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 39% in the last year. All in all, the inherent trends aren't typical of multi-baggers, so if that's what you're after, we think you might have more luck elsewhere.
Microlise Group could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation on our platform quite valuable.
While Microlise Group 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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