Select Water Solutions (NYSE:WTTR) Might Have The Makings Of A Multi-Bagger
If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So on that note, Select Water Solutions (NYSE:WTTR) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Select Water Solutions, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.093 = US$95m ÷ (US$1.2b - US$208m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
Therefore, Select Water Solutions has an ROCE of 9.3%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Energy Services industry average of 12%.
Check out our latest analysis for Select Water Solutions
In the above chart we have measured Select Water Solutions' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
So How Is Select Water Solutions' ROCE Trending?
Select Water Solutions has not disappointed with their ROCE growth. More specifically, while the company has kept capital employed relatively flat over the last five years, the ROCE has climbed 90% in that same time. So it's likely that the business is now reaping the full benefits of its past investments, since the capital employed hasn't changed considerably. It's worth looking deeper into this though because while it's great that the business is more efficient, it might also mean that going forward the areas to invest internally for the organic growth are lacking.
Our Take On Select Water Solutions' ROCE
In summary, we're delighted to see that Select Water Solutions has been able to increase efficiencies and earn higher rates of return on the same amount of capital. And since the stock has fallen 36% over the last five years, there might be an opportunity here. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.
If you'd like to know about the risks facing Select Water Solutions, we've discovered 3 warning signs that you should be aware of.
While Select Water Solutions may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.
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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.
