TC Energy (TSE:TRP) Is Experiencing Growth In Returns On Capital

If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So when we looked at TC Energy (TSE:TRP) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

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 TC Energy is:

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

0.07 = CA$6.1b ÷ (CA$101b - CA$14b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

So, TC Energy has an ROCE of 7.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Oil and Gas industry average of 5.6%.

See our latest analysis for TC Energy

Above you can see how the current ROCE for TC Energy 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 TC Energy here for free.

So How Is TC Energy's ROCE Trending?

Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 7.0%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 29% more capital is being employed now too. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.

The Key Takeaway

To sum it up, TC Energy has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. Investors may not be impressed by the favorable underlying trends yet because over the last five years the stock has only returned 29% to shareholders. So with that in mind, we think the stock deserves further research.

TC Energy does have some risks, we noticed 6 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.

While TC Energy 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.

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.

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