The Return Trends At Unicasa Indústria de Móveis (BVMF:UCAS3) Look Promising

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Unicasa Indústria de Móveis (BVMF:UCAS3) so let's look a bit deeper.

Understanding 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 Unicasa Indústria de Móveis is:

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

0.18 = R$33m ÷ (R$271m - R$86m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).

Therefore, Unicasa Indústria de Móveis has an ROCE of 18%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Consumer Durables industry average of 8.5% it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Unicasa Indústria de Móveis

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Unicasa Indústria de Móveis 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?

We're delighted to see that Unicasa Indústria de Móveis is reaping rewards from its investments and has now broken into profitability. While the business was unprofitable in the past, it's now turned things around and is earning 18% on its capital. Interestingly, the capital employed by the business has remained relatively flat, so these higher returns are either from prior investments paying off or increased efficiencies. So while we're happy that the business is more efficient, just keep in mind that could mean that going forward the business is lacking areas to invest internally for growth. Because in the end, a business can only get so efficient.

Our Take On Unicasa Indústria de Móveis' ROCE

To bring it all together, Unicasa Indústria de Móveis has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. And with a respectable 49% 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 Unicasa Indústria de Móveis can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

One more thing, we've spotted 3 warning signs facing Unicasa Indústria de Móveis that you might find interesting.

While Unicasa Indústria de Móveis 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.