Breville Group (ASX:BRG) Will Want To Turn Around Its Return Trends

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. In light of that, when we looked at Breville Group (ASX:BRG) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

What Is 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 Breville Group, this is the formula:

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

0.19 = AU$156m ÷ (AU$1.2b - AU$343m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

So, Breville Group has an ROCE of 19%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 9.1% generated by the Consumer Durables industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Breville Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Breville Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Breville Group.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

In terms of Breville Group's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 26%, but since then they've fallen to 19%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

The Key Takeaway

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Breville Group. Furthermore the stock has climbed 56% over the last five years, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

One more thing: We've identified 2 warning signs with Breville Group (at least 1 which is significant) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.

While Breville Group isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.