Slowing Rates Of Return At Ramsay Générale de Santé (EPA:GDS) Leave Little Room For Excitement

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. Although, when we looked at Ramsay Générale de Santé (EPA:GDS), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

What is 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 Ramsay Générale de Santé:

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

0.076 = €389m ÷ (€6.7b - €1.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

Thus, Ramsay Générale de Santé has an ROCE of 7.6%. On its own that's a low return, but compared to the average of 5.5% generated by the Healthcare industry, it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Ramsay Générale de Santé

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Ramsay Générale de Santé's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating Ramsay Générale de Santé's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The returns on capital haven't changed much for Ramsay Générale de Santé in recent years. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 7.6% and the business has deployed 197% more capital into its operations. This poor ROCE doesn't inspire confidence right now, and with the increase in capital employed, it's evident that the business isn't deploying the funds into high return investments.

The Key Takeaway

In conclusion, Ramsay Générale de Santé has been investing more capital into the business, but returns on that capital haven't increased. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 70% over the last five years. But if the trajectory of these underlying trends continue, we think the likelihood of it being a multi-bagger from here isn't high.

On a final note, we found 2 warning signs for Ramsay Générale de Santé (1 can't be ignored) you should be aware of.

While Ramsay Générale de Santé 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. 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.