The Return Trends At Rocky Mountain Liquor (CVE:RUM) Look Promising
If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So on that note, Rocky Mountain Liquor (CVE:RUM) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
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. The formula for this calculation on Rocky Mountain Liquor is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.059 = CA$1.2m ÷ (CA$24m - CA$4.0m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).
Thus, Rocky Mountain Liquor has an ROCE of 5.9%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Consumer Retailing industry average of 12%.
Check out our latest analysis for Rocky Mountain Liquor
While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Rocky Mountain Liquor has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
The Trend Of ROCE
We're glad to see that ROCE is heading in the right direction, even if it is still low at the moment. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 5.9%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 221%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Rocky Mountain Liquor thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.
In another part of our analysis, we noticed that the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets decreased to 16%, which broadly means the business is relying less on its suppliers or short-term creditors to fund its operations. So this improvement in ROCE has come from the business' underlying economics, which is great to see.
The Bottom Line
In summary, it's great to see that Rocky Mountain Liquor can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. Although the company may be facing some issues elsewhere since the stock has plunged 75% in the last five years. Regardless, we think the underlying fundamentals warrant this stock for further investigation.
One more thing: We've identified 3 warning signs with Rocky Mountain Liquor (at least 2 which can't be ignored) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.
For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high 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.
