Yahoo Finance Gulf Marine Services (LON:GMS) May Have Issues Allocating Its Capital
When researching a stock for investment, what can tell us that the company is in decline? More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. This reveals that the company isn't compounding shareholder wealth because returns are falling and its net asset base is shrinking. So after we looked into Gulf Marine Services (LON:GMS), the trends above didn't look too great.
What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?
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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Gulf Marine Services:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.036 = US$21m ÷ (US$654m - US$61m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).
Thus, Gulf Marine Services has an ROCE of 3.6%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 3.6%, it's still a low return by itself.
See our latest analysis for Gulf Marine Services
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Gulf Marine Services compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
How Are Returns Trending?
In terms of Gulf Marine Services' historical ROCE trend, it isn't fantastic. To be more specific, today's ROCE was 14% five years ago but has since fallen to 3.6%. What's equally concerning is that the amount of capital deployed in the business has shrunk by 27% over that same period. The fact that both are shrinking is an indication that the business is going through some tough times. If these underlying trends continue, we wouldn't be too optimistic going forward.
The Bottom Line On Gulf Marine Services' ROCE
In summary, it's unfortunate that Gulf Marine Services is shrinking its capital base and also generating lower returns. We expect this has contributed to the stock plummeting 88% during the last five years. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.
If you want to know some of the risks facing Gulf Marine Services we've found 3 warning signs (2 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.
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. 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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