Is Brd. Klee (CPH:KLEE B) Likely To Turn Things Around?

If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. 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. Having said that, from a first glance at Brd. Klee (CPH:KLEE B) 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)

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Brd. Klee:

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

0.081 = kr.8.2m ÷ (kr.133m - kr.31m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

So, Brd. Klee has an ROCE of 8.1%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Trade Distributors industry average of 11%.

See our latest analysis for Brd. Klee

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 Brd. Klee has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

The Trend Of ROCE

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Brd. Klee, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 8.1% from 15% five years ago. Given the business is employing more capital while revenue has slipped, this is a bit concerning. This could mean that the business is losing its competitive advantage or market share, because while more money is being put into ventures, it's actually producing a lower return - "less bang for their buck" per se.

In Conclusion...

In summary, we're somewhat concerned by Brd. Klee's diminishing returns on increasing amounts of capital. Despite the concerning underlying trends, the stock has actually gained 9.4% over the last five years, so it might be that the investors are expecting the trends to reverse. Either way, we aren't huge fans of the current trends and so with that we think you might find better investments elsewhere.

One more thing: We've identified 4 warning signs with Brd. Klee (at least 1 which is concerning) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.

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