Yahoo Finance Here's What RELX's (LON:REL) Strong Returns On Capital Mean
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. That's why when we briefly looked at RELX's (LON:REL) ROCE trend, we were very happy with what we saw.
What Is 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 RELX:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.22 = UK£2.3b ÷ (UK£16b - UK£5.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).
Thus, RELX has an ROCE of 22%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 16% earned by companies in a similar industry.
Check out our latest analysis for RELX
In the above chart we have measured RELX'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 RELX.
So How Is RELX's ROCE Trending?
We'd be pretty happy with returns on capital like RELX. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 22% and the business has deployed 34% more capital into its operations. Returns like this are the envy of most businesses and given it has repeatedly reinvested at these rates, that's even better. If RELX can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.
What We Can Learn From RELX's ROCE
RELX has demonstrated its proficiency by generating high returns on increasing amounts of capital employed, which we're thrilled about. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 89% to shareholders over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
On a final note, we've found 2 warning signs for RELX that we think you should be aware of.
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.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
