Yahoo Finance Equifax (NYSE:EFX) Has Some Way To Go To Become A Multi-Bagger
If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. So, when we ran our eye over Equifax's (NYSE:EFX) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?
Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. To calculate this metric for Equifax, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.12 = US$1.1b ÷ (US$11b - US$1.9b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).
Therefore, Equifax has an ROCE of 12%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Professional Services industry average of 11%.
See our latest analysis for Equifax
In the above chart we have measured Equifax'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 Equifax.
What Does the ROCE Trend For Equifax Tell Us?
The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. The company has employed 67% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 12%. Since 12% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. 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.
In Conclusion...
To sum it up, Equifax has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 114% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
Like most companies, Equifax does come with some risks, and we've found 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.
