Yahoo Finance Monro (NASDAQ:MNRO) Will Be Hoping To Turn Its Returns On Capital Around
There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. 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 Monro (NASDAQ:MNRO), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?
Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Monro:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.067 = US$103m ÷ (US$1.9b - US$311m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).
So, Monro has an ROCE of 6.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Specialty Retail industry average of 21%.
See our latest analysis for Monro
In the above chart we have measured Monro's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Monro.
How Are Returns Trending?
On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Monro doesn't inspire confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 12%, but since then they've fallen to 6.7%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.
The Bottom Line
Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Monro. In light of this, the stock has only gained 9.0% over the last five years. Therefore we'd recommend looking further into this stock to confirm if it has the makings of a good investment.
Monro could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation on our platform quite valuable.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive 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.
