Should You Be Impressed By CVS Group's (LON:CVSG) Returns on Capital?
If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. However, after investigating CVS Group (LON:CVSG), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.
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. The formula for this calculation on CVS Group is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.06 = UK£23m ÷ (UK£473m - UK£82m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019).
Therefore, CVS Group has an ROCE of 6.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Healthcare industry average of 10%.
See our latest analysis for CVS Group
In the above chart we have a measured CVS Group'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 CVS Group.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
On the surface, the trend of ROCE at CVS Group doesn't inspire confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 14%, but since then they've fallen to 6.0%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.
On a related note, CVS Group has decreased its current liabilities to 17% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.
The Key Takeaway
Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for CVS Group. Furthermore the stock has climbed 80% over the last five years, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So should these growth trends continue, we'd be optimistic on the stock going forward.
CVS Group does have some risks though, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for CVS Group that you might be interested in.
While CVS Group 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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