NH Hotel Group's (BME:NHH) Returns Have Hit A Wall

Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? 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. 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 NH Hotel Group (BME:NHH) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for NH Hotel Group:

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

0.043 = €151m ÷ (€4.2b - €724m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

So, NH Hotel Group has an ROCE of 4.3%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Hospitality industry average of 5.6%.

See our latest analysis for NH Hotel Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for NH Hotel Group 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 NH Hotel Group here for free.

What Can We Tell From NH Hotel Group's ROCE Trend?

The returns on capital haven't changed much for NH Hotel Group in recent years. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 4.3% and the business has deployed 57% more capital into its operations. Given the company has increased the amount of capital employed, it appears the investments that have been made simply don't provide a high return on capital.

The Bottom Line

Long story short, while NH Hotel Group has been reinvesting its capital, the returns that it's generating haven't increased. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 36% in the last five years. On the whole, we aren't too inspired by the underlying trends and we think there may be better chances of finding a multi-bagger elsewhere.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing NH Hotel Group, we've discovered 2 warning signs that you should be aware of.

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.