Yahoo Finance Why You Should Like Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.’s (NYSE:BR) ROCE
Today we'll evaluate Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea. To be precise, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that will inform our view of the quality of the business.
First of all, we'll work out how to calculate ROCE. Then we'll compare its ROCE to similar companies. Then we'll determine how its current liabilities are affecting its ROCE.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
ROCE measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. In general, businesses with a higher ROCE are usually better quality. In brief, it is a useful tool, but it is not without drawbacks. Renowned investment researcher Michael Mauboussin has suggested that a high ROCE can indicate that 'one dollar invested in the company generates value of more than one dollar'.
How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?
The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
Or for Broadridge Financial Solutions:
0.20 = US$626m ÷ (US$4.2b - US$1.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2019.)
So, Broadridge Financial Solutions has an ROCE of 20%.
View our latest analysis for Broadridge Financial Solutions
Does Broadridge Financial Solutions Have A Good ROCE?
ROCE is commonly used for comparing the performance of similar businesses. Using our data, we find that Broadridge Financial Solutions's ROCE is meaningfully better than the 12% average in the IT industry. I think that's good to see, since it implies the company is better than other companies at making the most of its capital. Regardless of where Broadridge Financial Solutions sits next to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears satisfactory, and this company could be worth a closer look.
You can see in the image below how Broadridge Financial Solutions's ROCE compares to its industry. Click to see more on past growth.
When considering this metric, keep in mind that it is backwards looking, and not necessarily predictive. ROCE can be misleading for companies in cyclical industries, with returns looking impressive during the boom times, but very weak during the busts. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. Future performance is what matters, and you can see analyst predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
Do Broadridge Financial Solutions's Current Liabilities Skew Its ROCE?
Liabilities, such as supplier bills and bank overdrafts, are referred to as current liabilities if they need to be paid within 12 months. The ROCE equation subtracts current liabilities from capital employed, so a company with a lot of current liabilities appears to have less capital employed, and a higher ROCE than otherwise. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets.
Broadridge Financial Solutions has total assets of US$4.2b and current liabilities of US$1.0b. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 25% of its total assets. Low current liabilities are not boosting the ROCE too much.
What We Can Learn From Broadridge Financial Solutions's ROCE
Overall, Broadridge Financial Solutions has a decent ROCE and could be worthy of further research. Broadridge Financial Solutions shapes up well under this analysis, but it is far from the only business delivering excellent numbers . You might also want to check this free collection of companies delivering excellent earnings growth.
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.
