Today we’ll evaluate Weibo Corporation (NASDAQ:WB) to determine whether it could have potential as an investment idea. Specifically, we’ll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), since that will give us an insight into how efficiently the business can generate profits from the capital it requires.
First of all, we’ll work out how to calculate ROCE. Then we’ll compare its ROCE to similar companies. Then we’ll determine how its current liabilities are affecting its ROCE.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?
ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. Generally speaking a higher ROCE is better. In brief, it is a useful tool, but it is not without drawbacks. Author Edwin Whiting says to be careful when comparing the ROCE of different businesses, since ‘No two businesses are exactly alike.
How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?
The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets – Current Liabilities)
Or for Weibo:
0.16 = US$630m ÷ (US$4.6b – US$779m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2019.)
So, Weibo has an ROCE of 16%.
View our latest analysis for Weibo
Is Weibo’s ROCE Good?
One way to assess ROCE is to compare similar companies. In our analysis, Weibo’s ROCE is meaningfully higher than the 9.0% average in the Interactive Media and Services industry. I think that’s good to see, since it implies the company is better than other companies at making the most of its capital. Regardless of where Weibo sits next to its industry, its ROCE in absolute terms appears satisfactory, and this company could be worth a closer look.
The image below shows how Weibo’s ROCE compares to its industry, and you can click it to see more detail on its past growth.
It is important to remember that ROCE shows past performance, and is not necessarily predictive. ROCE can be misleading for companies in cyclical industries, with returns looking impressive during the boom times, but very weak during the busts. This is because ROCE only looks at one year, instead of considering returns across a whole cycle. Future performance is what matters, and you can see analyst predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
Weibo’s Current Liabilities And Their Impact On Its ROCE
Short term (or current) liabilities, are things like supplier invoices, overdrafts, or tax bills that need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets.
Weibo has total liabilities of US$779m and total assets of US$4.6b. Therefore its current liabilities are equivalent to approximately 17% of its total assets. A fairly low level of current liabilities is not influencing the ROCE too much.
Our Take On Weibo’s ROCE
With that in mind, Weibo’s ROCE appears pretty good. There might be better investments than Weibo out there, but you will have to work hard to find them . These promising businesses with rapidly growing earnings might be right up your alley.
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
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