Cadre Holdings (NYSE:CDRE) Might Be Having Difficulty Using Its Capital Effectively
Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Although, when we looked at Cadre Holdings (NYSE:CDRE), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?
For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Cadre Holdings is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.062 = US$18m ÷ (US$369m - US$76m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
So, Cadre Holdings has an ROCE of 6.2%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Aerospace & Defense industry average of 8.5%.
View our latest analysis for Cadre Holdings
In the above chart we have measured Cadre Holdings' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Cadre Holdings here for free.
What Can We Tell From Cadre Holdings' ROCE Trend?
When we looked at the ROCE trend at Cadre Holdings, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last two years, returns on capital have decreased to 6.2% from 16% two years ago. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.
The Bottom Line
In summary, Cadre Holdings is reinvesting funds back into the business for growth but unfortunately it looks like sales haven't increased much just yet. Investors must think there's better things to come because the stock has knocked it out of the park, delivering a 102% gain to shareholders who have held over the last year. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.
If you want to continue researching Cadre Holdings, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.
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.
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