Investors Met With Slowing Returns on Capital At Mühlbauer Holding (ETR:MUB)

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Having said that, from a first glance at Mühlbauer Holding (ETR:MUB) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

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 Mühlbauer Holding is:

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

0.12 = €40m ÷ (€367m - €36m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

Therefore, Mühlbauer Holding has an ROCE of 12%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Machinery industry average of 6.8% it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Mühlbauer Holding

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Mühlbauer Holding's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Mühlbauer Holding 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?

Things have been pretty stable at Mühlbauer Holding, with its capital employed and returns on that capital staying somewhat the same for the last five years. It's not uncommon to see this when looking at a mature and stable business that isn't re-investing its earnings because it has likely passed that phase of the business cycle. So don't be surprised if Mühlbauer Holding doesn't end up being a multi-bagger in a few years time.

The Bottom Line On Mühlbauer Holding's ROCE

In summary, Mühlbauer Holding isn't compounding its earnings but is generating stable returns on the same amount of capital employed. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 42% over the last five years. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

One more thing, we've spotted 3 warning signs facing Mühlbauer Holding that you might find interesting.

While Mühlbauer Holding 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.

When trading Mühlbauer Holding or any other investment, use the platform considered by many to be the Professional's Gateway to the Worlds Market, Interactive Brokers. You get the lowest-cost* trading on stocks, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds worldwide from a single integrated account. Promoted

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
^*Interactive Brokers Rated Lowest Cost Broker by StockBrokers.com Annual Online Review 2020

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