Yahoo Finance There's Been No Shortage Of Growth Recently For Trican Well Service's (TSE:TCW) Returns On Capital
To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So on that note, Trican Well Service (TSE:TCW) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Trican Well Service:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.029 = CA$15m ÷ (CA$626m - CA$114m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
Thus, Trican Well Service has an ROCE of 2.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Energy Services industry average of 4.6%.
Check out our latest analysis for Trican Well Service
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Trican Well Service 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 Trican Well Service here for free.
How Are Returns Trending?
It's great to see that Trican Well Service has started to generate some pre-tax earnings from prior investments. While the business is profitable now, it used to be incurring losses on invested capital five years ago. Additionally, the business is utilizing 25% less capital than it was five years ago, and taken at face value, that can mean the company needs less funds at work to get a return. Trican Well Service could be selling under-performing assets since the ROCE is improving.
The Bottom Line
In the end, Trican Well Service has proven it's capital allocation skills are good with those higher returns from less amount of capital. And given the stock has remained rather flat over the last five years, there might be an opportunity here if other metrics are strong. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.
If you'd like to know about the risks facing Trican Well Service, we've discovered 2 warning signs that you should be aware of.
While Trican Well Service 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.
