Will Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) Multiply In Value Going Forward?
If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's 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. With that in mind, the ROCE of Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) looks decent, right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?
If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Huntington Ingalls Industries:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.15 = US$886m ÷ (US$8.2b - US$2.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).
Thus, Huntington Ingalls Industries has an ROCE of 15%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Aerospace & Defense industry average of 8.5% it's much better.
Check out our latest analysis for Huntington Ingalls Industries
In the above chart we have measured Huntington Ingalls Industries' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
What Does the ROCE Trend For Huntington Ingalls Industries Tell Us?
While the returns on capital are good, they haven't moved much. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 15% and the business has deployed 25% more capital into its operations. 15% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Huntington Ingalls Industries has consistently earned this amount. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.
The Key Takeaway
The main thing to remember is that Huntington Ingalls Industries has proven its ability to continually reinvest at respectable rates of return. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 53% to shareholders over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
One more thing to note, we've identified 3 warning signs with Huntington Ingalls Industries and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
While Huntington Ingalls Industries 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. 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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