Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) Knows How To Allocate Capital Effectively

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Haverty Furniture Companies' (NYSE:HVT) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

What Is 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. The formula for this calculation on Haverty Furniture Companies is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.24 = US$118m ÷ (US$694m - US$209m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

Thus, Haverty Furniture Companies has an ROCE of 24%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Specialty Retail industry average of 17%.

View our latest analysis for Haverty Furniture Companies

roce

In the above chart we have measured Haverty Furniture Companies' 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.

How Are Returns Trending?

The trends we've noticed at Haverty Furniture Companies are quite reassuring. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 24%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 32%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Haverty Furniture Companies thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

For the record though, there was a noticeable increase in the company's current liabilities over the period, so we would attribute some of the ROCE growth to that. Essentially the business now has suppliers or short-term creditors funding about 30% of its operations, which isn't ideal. It's worth keeping an eye on this because as the percentage of current liabilities to total assets increases, some aspects of risk also increase.

What We Can Learn From Haverty Furniture Companies' ROCE

All in all, it's terrific to see that Haverty Furniture Companies is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. And with a respectable 68% awarded to those who held the stock over the last five years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Haverty Furniture Companies can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

One more thing: We've identified 4 warning signs with Haverty Furniture Companies (at least 2 which are a bit concerning) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.

If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high returns on equity.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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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