Yahoo Finance Some Investors May Be Worried About Beach Energy's (ASX:BPT) Returns On Capital
Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential 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. 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 Beach Energy (ASX:BPT), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
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. The formula for this calculation on Beach Energy is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.14 = AU$690m ÷ (AU$5.4b - AU$490m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).
Therefore, Beach Energy has an ROCE of 14%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 14%.
View our latest analysis for Beach Energy
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Beach Energy compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. 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 Beach Energy Tell Us?
In terms of Beach Energy's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 18% over the last five years. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.
The Bottom Line
Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Beach Energy. In light of this, the stock has only gained 17% over the last five years. Therefore we'd recommend looking further into this stock to confirm if it has the makings of a good investment.
If you want to continue researching Beach Energy, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.
While Beach Energy 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.
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