Yahoo Finance What Do The Returns On Capital At Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) Tell Us?
What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. However, after investigating Keywords Studios (LON:KWS), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.
Understanding 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 Keywords Studios:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.071 = €27m ÷ (€438m - €63m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).
Therefore, Keywords Studios has an ROCE of 7.1%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the IT industry average of 10.0%.
Check out our latest analysis for Keywords Studios
In the above chart we have measured Keywords Studios' 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 Keywords Studios.
The Trend Of ROCE
The trend of ROCE doesn't look fantastic because it's fallen from 14% five years ago, while the business's capital employed increased by 910%. However, some of the increase in capital employed could be attributed to the recent capital raising that's been completed prior to their latest reporting period, so keep that in mind when looking at the ROCE decrease. The funds raised likely haven't been put to work yet so it's worth watching what happens in the future with Keywords Studios' earnings and if they change as a result from the capital raise. Also, we found that by looking at the company's latest EBIT, the figure is within 10% of the previous year's EBIT so you can basically assign the ROCE drop primarily to that capital raise.
The Bottom Line
While returns have fallen for Keywords Studios in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 1,051% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. 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.
One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing Keywords Studios that you might find interesting.
While Keywords Studios isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
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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