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. Although, when we looked at L.D.C (EPA:LOUP), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
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 L.D.C:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.11 = €199m ÷ (€2.8b - €1.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to August 2020).
So, L.D.C has an ROCE of 11%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 7.9% generated by the Food industry.
View our latest analysis for L.D.C
Above you can see how the current ROCE for L.D.C compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for L.D.C.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
When we looked at the ROCE trend at L.D.C, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 17%, but since then they've fallen to 11%. However it looks like L.D.C might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.
What We Can Learn From L.D.C's ROCE
In summary, L.D.C is reinvesting funds back into the business for growth but unfortunately it looks like sales haven't increased much just yet. Unsurprisingly, the stock has only gained 27% over the last five years, which potentially indicates that investors are accounting for this going forward. So if you're looking for a multi-bagger, the underlying trends indicate you may have better chances elsewhere.
L.D.C could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation on our platform quite valuable.
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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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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About ENXTPA:LOUP
L.D.C
Produces and sells poultry and processed products in France and internationally.
Very undervalued with flawless balance sheet and pays a dividend.
