Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? 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. This shows us that it’s a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So when we looked at the ROCE trend of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) we really liked what we saw.
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. To calculate this metric for Facebook, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets – Current Liabilities)
0.25 = US$38b ÷ (US$164b – US$13b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).
Thus, Facebook has an ROCE of 25%. That’s a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 11% earned by companies in a similar industry.
See our latest analysis for Facebook
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Facebook 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 Facebook.
How Are Returns Trending?
Facebook is displaying some positive trends. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 25%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 200%. This can indicate that there’s plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that’s common among multi-baggers.
What We Can Learn From Facebook’s ROCE
To sum it up, Facebook has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. Since the stock has returned a staggering 203% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.
On the other side of ROCE, we have to consider valuation. That’s why we have a FREE intrinsic value estimation on our platform that is definitely worth checking out.
If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning 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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