Returns At Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) Are On The Way Up
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. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing 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. So when we looked at Haverty Furniture Companies (NYSE:HVT) and its trend of ROCE, we really 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. The formula for this calculation on Haverty Furniture Companies is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.11 = US$55m ÷ (US$641m - US$131m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).
Thus, Haverty Furniture Companies has an ROCE of 11%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Specialty Retail industry average of 13%.
Check out our latest analysis for Haverty Furniture Companies
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 analyst report for Haverty Furniture Companies .
What Does the ROCE Trend For Haverty Furniture Companies Tell Us?
Haverty Furniture Companies has not disappointed with their ROCE growth. More specifically, while the company has kept capital employed relatively flat over the last five years, the ROCE has climbed 30% in that same time. So our take on this is that the business has increased efficiencies to generate these higher returns, all the while not needing to make any additional investments. On that front, things are looking good so it's worth exploring what management has said about growth plans going forward.
Our Take On Haverty Furniture Companies' ROCE
To bring it all together, Haverty Furniture Companies has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. And a remarkable 132% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.
If you'd like to know about the risks facing Haverty Furniture Companies, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.
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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.