Chargeurs (EPA:CRI) Is Looking To Continue Growing Its Returns On Capital

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Chargeurs (EPA:CRI) so let's look a bit deeper.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

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. To calculate this metric for Chargeurs, this is the formula:

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

0.11 = €69m ÷ (€884m - €274m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Therefore, Chargeurs has an ROCE of 11%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 11%.

Check out our latest analysis for Chargeurs

In the above chart we have measured Chargeurs' 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 Chargeurs.

How Are Returns Trending?

Investors would be pleased with what's happening at Chargeurs. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 11%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 106% 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.

On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 31%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. So this improvement in ROCE has come from the business' underlying economics, which is great to see.

The Bottom Line

All in all, it's terrific to see that Chargeurs is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Since the stock has returned a staggering 140% to shareholders over the last five years, it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.

Like most companies, Chargeurs does come with some risks, and we've found 3 warning signs that you should be aware of.

While Chargeurs 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.

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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.
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