If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing 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. However, after investigating ALBA (FRA:ABA), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.
What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?
If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on ALBA is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.087 = €14m ÷ (€209m - €44m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
Therefore, ALBA has an ROCE of 8.7%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 9.0%, it's still a low return by itself.
Check out our latest analysis for ALBA
In the above chart we have measured ALBA's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for ALBA.
So How Is ALBA's ROCE Trending?
There hasn't been much to report for ALBA's returns and its level of capital employed because both metrics have been steady for the past five years. Businesses with these traits tend to be mature and steady operations because they're past the growth phase. With that in mind, unless investment picks up again in the future, we wouldn't expect ALBA to be a multi-bagger going forward.
What We Can Learn From ALBA's ROCE
In summary, ALBA isn't compounding its earnings but is generating stable returns on the same amount of capital employed. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 52% in the last five years. Therefore based on the analysis done in this article, we don't think ALBA has the makings of a multi-bagger.
ALBA does come with some risks though, we found 2 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is significant...
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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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.
About DB:ABA
Slight with mediocre balance sheet.
