Investors Could Be Concerned With ICF International's (NASDAQ:ICFI) Returns On Capital

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. 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. However, after investigating ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for ICF International, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.065 = US$116m ÷ (US$2.2b - US$372m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).

Thus, ICF International has an ROCE of 6.5%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Professional Services industry average of 13%.

View our latest analysis for ICF International

roce

Above you can see how the current ROCE for ICF International compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

So How Is ICF International's ROCE Trending?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at ICF International, we didn't gain much confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 9.4% over the last five years. On the other hand, the company has been employing more capital without a corresponding improvement in sales in the last year, which could suggest these investments are longer term plays. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.

What We Can Learn From ICF International's ROCE

To conclude, we've found that ICF International is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 91% over the last five years. But if the trajectory of these underlying trends continue, we think the likelihood of it being a multi-bagger from here isn't high.

ICF International does have some risks, we noticed 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) we think you should know about.

While ICF International isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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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