Do You Know About Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc’s (EPA:MLCMB) ROCE?

Today we'll look at Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc (EPA:MLCMB) and reflect on its potential as an investment. Specifically, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), since that will give us an insight into how efficiently the business can generate profits from the capital it requires.

Firstly, we'll go over how we calculate ROCE. Then we'll compare its ROCE to similar companies. And finally, we'll look at how its current liabilities are impacting its ROCE.

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

ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. All else being equal, a better business will have a higher ROCE. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Renowned investment researcher Michael Mauboussin has suggested that a high ROCE can indicate that 'one dollar invested in the company generates value of more than one dollar'.

How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?

The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is:

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

Or for Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc:

0.072 = €17m ÷ (€295m - €58m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to May 2018.)

Therefore, Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc has an ROCE of 7.2%.

Check out our latest analysis for Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc

Does Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc Have A Good ROCE?

ROCE can be useful when making comparisons, such as between similar companies. We can see Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc's ROCE is around the 6.8% average reported by the Hospitality industry. Setting aside the industry comparison for now, Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc's ROCE is mediocre in absolute terms, considering the risk of investing in stocks versus the safety of a bank account. It is possible that there are more rewarding investments out there.

In our analysis, Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc's ROCE appears to be 7.2%, compared to 3 years ago, when its ROCE was 5.6%. This makes us think about whether the company has been reinvesting shrewdly.

Remember that this metric is backwards looking - it shows what has happened in the past, and does not accurately predict the future. Companies in cyclical industries can be difficult to understand using ROCE, as returns typically look high during boom times, and low during busts. This is because ROCE only looks at one year, instead of considering returns across a whole cycle. You can check if Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc has cyclical profits by looking at this freegraph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Are Current Liabilities, And How Do They Affect Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc's ROCE?

Current liabilities include invoices, such as supplier payments, short-term debt, or a tax bill, that need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To check the impact of this, we calculate if a company has high current liabilities relative to its total assets.

Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc has total assets of €295m and current liabilities of €58m. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 20% of its total assets. It is good to see a restrained amount of current liabilities, as this limits the effect on ROCE.

What We Can Learn From Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc's ROCE

With that in mind, we're not overly impressed with Compagnie Du Mont-Blanc's ROCE, so it may not be the most appealing prospect. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a few good candidates. So take a peek at this freelist of companies with modest (or no) debt, trading on a P/E below 20.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this freelist of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.