Will the Promising Trends At Strabag (VIE:STR) Continue?

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. 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, Strabag (VIE:STR) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

What is 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. The formula for this calculation on Strabag is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.08 = €488m ÷ (€12b - €5.9b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

So, Strabag has an ROCE of 8.0%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Construction industry average of 10%.

See our latest analysis for Strabag

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Strabag compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Strabag here for free.

What Can We Tell From Strabag's ROCE Trend?

Strabag is showing promise given that its ROCE is trending up and to the right. More specifically, while the company has kept capital employed relatively flat over the last five years, the ROCE has climbed 153% in that same time. Basically the business is generating higher returns from the same amount of capital and that is proof that there are improvements in the company's efficiencies. On that front, things are looking good so it's worth exploring what management has said about growth plans going forward.

On a separate but related note, it's important to know that Strabag has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 49%, which we'd consider pretty high. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

What We Can Learn From Strabag's ROCE

To sum it up, Strabag is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. And with a respectable 52% awarded to those who held the stock over the last five years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Strabag can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

On a separate note, we've found 2 warning signs for Strabag you'll probably want to know about.

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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