Capital Allocation Trends At BBQ Holdings (NASDAQ:BBQ) Aren't Ideal

There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Although, when we looked at BBQ Holdings (NASDAQ:BBQ), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for BBQ Holdings, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.0061 = US$776k ÷ (US$159m - US$31m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to July 2021).

Therefore, BBQ Holdings has an ROCE of 0.6%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Hospitality industry average of 7.4%.

Check out our latest analysis for BBQ Holdings

roce

Above you can see how the current ROCE for BBQ Holdings 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 BBQ Holdings.

The Trend Of ROCE

Unfortunately, the trend isn't great with ROCE falling from 1.5% five years ago, while capital employed has grown 200%. Usually this isn't ideal, but given BBQ Holdings conducted a capital raising before their most recent earnings announcement, that would've likely contributed, at least partially, to the increased capital employed figure. BBQ Holdings probably hasn't received a full year of earnings yet from the new funds it raised, so these figures should be taken with a grain of salt.

The Bottom Line On BBQ Holdings' ROCE

While returns have fallen for BBQ Holdings in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. And long term investors must be optimistic going forward because the stock has returned a huge 196% to shareholders in the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

If you'd like to know more about BBQ Holdings, we've spotted 3 warning signs, and 1 of them is a bit unpleasant.

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.

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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