Yahoo Finance We Like These Underlying Return On Capital Trends At Wayfair (NYSE:W)
Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding 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. So on that note, Wayfair (NYSE:W) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.
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. The formula for this calculation on Wayfair is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.088 = US$215m ÷ (US$4.5b - US$2.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).
Therefore, Wayfair has an ROCE of 8.8%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Online Retail industry average of 13%.
See our latest analysis for Wayfair
In the above chart we have measured Wayfair'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 Wayfair.
So How Is Wayfair's ROCE Trending?
The fact that Wayfair is now generating some pre-tax profits from its prior investments is very encouraging. Shareholders would no doubt be pleased with this because the business was loss-making five years ago but is is now generating 8.8% on its capital. Not only that, but the company is utilizing 1,054% more capital than before, but that's to be expected from a company trying to break into profitability. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, both common traits of a multi-bagger.
On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 45%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. So this improvement in ROCE has come from the business' underlying economics, which is great to see. Nevertheless, there are some potential risks the company is bearing with current liabilities that high, so just keep that in mind.
The Key Takeaway
Overall, Wayfair gets a big tick from us thanks in most part to the fact that it is now profitable and is reinvesting in its business. Since the stock has returned a staggering 557% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Wayfair can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.
Wayfair does have some risks, we noticed 4 warning signs (and 2 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.
While Wayfair may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.
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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