Perdoceo Education (NASDAQ:PRDO) Knows How To Allocate Capital Effectively
If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? 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. And in light of that, the trends we're seeing at Perdoceo Education's (NASDAQ:PRDO) look very promising so lets take a look.
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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Perdoceo Education:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.25 = US$139m ÷ (US$655m - US$110m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).
Therefore, Perdoceo Education has an ROCE of 25%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 8.7% earned by companies in a similar industry.
See our latest analysis for Perdoceo Education
In the above chart we have measured Perdoceo Education's 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 Perdoceo Education here for free.
What Can We Tell From Perdoceo Education's ROCE Trend?
The fact that Perdoceo Education is now generating some pre-tax profits from its prior investments is very encouraging. Shareholders would no doubt be pleased with this because the business was loss-making five years ago but is is now generating 25% on its capital. And unsurprisingly, like most companies trying to break into the black, Perdoceo Education is utilizing 74% more capital than it was five years ago. This can tell us that the company has plenty of reinvestment opportunities that are able to generate higher returns.
One more thing to note, Perdoceo Education has decreased current liabilities to 17% of total assets over this period, which effectively reduces the amount of funding from suppliers or short-term creditors. So shareholders would be pleased that the growth in returns has mostly come from underlying business performance.
The Key Takeaway
Overall, Perdoceo Education gets a big tick from us thanks in most part to the fact that it is now profitable and is reinvesting in its business. Since the stock has returned a staggering 206% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.
Perdoceo Education does have some risks though, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Perdoceo Education that you might be interested in.
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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