Yahoo Finance The Returns At Heineken (AMS:HEIA) Aren't Growing
If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Although, when we looked at Heineken (AMS:HEIA), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
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 Heineken, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.087 = €3.5b ÷ (€57b - €17b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
Thus, Heineken has an ROCE of 8.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Beverage industry average of 9.7%.
View our latest analysis for Heineken
In the above chart we have measured Heineken's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
What Does the ROCE Trend For Heineken Tell Us?
In terms of Heineken's historical ROCE trend, it doesn't exactly demand attention. The company has employed 35% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 8.7%. Given the company has increased the amount of capital employed, it appears the investments that have been made simply don't provide a high return on capital.
The Bottom Line
Long story short, while Heineken has been reinvesting its capital, the returns that it's generating haven't increased. And with the stock having returned a mere 14% in the last five years to shareholders, you could argue that they're aware of these lackluster trends. So if you're looking for a multi-bagger, the underlying trends indicate you may have better chances elsewhere.
If you want to know some of the risks facing Heineken we've found 2 warning signs (1 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
While Heineken isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
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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.
