Yahoo Finance Investors Met With Slowing Returns on Capital At Cranswick (LON:CWK)
Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So, when we ran our eye over Cranswick's (LON:CWK) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.
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 Cranswick:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.16 = UK£129m ÷ (UK£1.0b - UK£232m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).
Thus, Cranswick has an ROCE of 16%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Food industry average of 11% it's much better.
View our latest analysis for Cranswick
In the above chart we have measured Cranswick'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 Cranswick.
How Are Returns Trending?
While the current returns on capital are decent, they haven't changed much. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 16% and the business has deployed 112% more capital into its operations. 16% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Cranswick has consistently earned this amount. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.
What We Can Learn From Cranswick's ROCE
To sum it up, Cranswick has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. Therefore it's no surprise that shareholders have earned a respectable 79% return if they held over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.
Cranswick could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation on our platform quite valuable.
While Cranswick isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
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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