Yahoo Finance Returns On Capital At Ceapro (CVE:CZO) Paint A Concerning Picture
If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. In light of that, when we looked at Ceapro (CVE:CZO) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?
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. To calculate this metric for Ceapro, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.074 = CA$2.1m ÷ (CA$29m - CA$1.1m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).
Thus, Ceapro has an ROCE of 7.4%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 6.6%, it's still a low return by itself.
View our latest analysis for Ceapro
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Ceapro's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Ceapro has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
How Are Returns Trending?
On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Ceapro doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 7.4% from 57% five years ago. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.
On a related note, Ceapro has decreased its current liabilities to 3.8% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. 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.
In Conclusion...
In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Ceapro is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And there could be an opportunity here if other metrics look good too, because the stock has declined 47% in the last five years. As a result, we'd recommend researching this stock further to uncover what other fundamentals of the business can show us.
If you want to know some of the risks facing Ceapro we've found 2 warning signs (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
While Ceapro isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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