The Returns At MDC Partners (NASDAQ:MDCA) Provide Us With Signs Of What's To Come
What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. However, after investigating MDC Partners (NASDAQ:MDCA), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for MDC Partners, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.088 = US$101m ÷ (US$1.9b - US$720m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020).
So, MDC Partners has an ROCE of 8.8%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 9.3%, it's still a low return by itself.
Check out our latest analysis for MDC Partners
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for MDC Partners' ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how MDC Partners has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
How Are Returns Trending?
In terms of MDC Partners' historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 12%, but since then they've fallen to 8.8%. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.
On a related note, MDC Partners has decreased its current liabilities to 39% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. 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 Bottom Line On MDC Partners' ROCE
To conclude, we've found that MDC Partners is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. And investors may be expecting the fundamentals to get a lot worse because the stock has crashed 85% over the last five years. In any case, the stock doesn't have these traits of a multi-bagger discussed above, so if that's what you're looking for, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.
One more thing to note, we've identified 2 warning signs with MDC Partners and understanding these should be part of your investment process.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive 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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