Yahoo Finance Here's What's Concerning About SEEK's (ASX:SEK) Returns On Capital
To avoid investing in a business that's in decline, there's a few financial metrics that can provide early indications of aging. A business that's potentially in decline often shows two trends, a return on capital employed (ROCE) that's declining, and a base of capital employed that's also declining. Basically the company is earning less on its investments and it is also reducing its total assets. In light of that, from a first glance at SEEK (ASX:SEK), we've spotted some signs that it could be struggling, so let's investigate.
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 SEEK:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.083 = AU$261m ÷ (AU$4.1b - AU$938m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).
Therefore, SEEK has an ROCE of 8.3%. On its own, that's a low figure but it's around the 10% average generated by the Interactive Media and Services industry.
Check out our latest analysis for SEEK
Above you can see how the current ROCE for SEEK compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for SEEK.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
In terms of SEEK's historical ROCE movements, the trend doesn't inspire confidence. About five years ago, returns on capital were 12%, however they're now substantially lower than that as we saw above. On top of that, it's worth noting that the amount of capital employed within the business has remained relatively steady. This combination can be indicative of a mature business that still has areas to deploy capital, but the returns received aren't as high due potentially to new competition or smaller margins. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect SEEK to turn into a multi-bagger.
The Key Takeaway
All in all, the lower returns from the same amount of capital employed aren't exactly signs of a compounding machine. Yet despite these poor fundamentals, the stock has gained a huge 109% over the last five years, so investors appear very optimistic. In any case, the current underlying trends don't bode well for long term performance so unless they reverse, we'd start looking elsewhere.
On a separate note, we've found 1 warning sign for SEEK you'll probably want to know about.
While SEEK may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.
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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