Returns At Streamwide (EPA:ALSTW) Are On The Way Up

Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. So when we looked at Streamwide (EPA:ALSTW) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

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

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Streamwide is:

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

0.18 = €4.0m ÷ (€31m - €9.3m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Thus, Streamwide has an ROCE of 18%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Software industry average of 10% it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Streamwide

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Streamwide compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From Streamwide's ROCE Trend?

Streamwide has recently broken into profitability so their prior investments seem to be paying off. The company was generating losses five years ago, but now it's earning 18% which is a sight for sore eyes. And unsurprisingly, like most companies trying to break into the black, Streamwide is utilizing 25% more capital than it was five years ago. We like this trend, because it tells us the company has profitable reinvestment opportunities available to it, and if it continues going forward that can lead to a multi-bagger performance.

For the record though, there was a noticeable increase in the company's current liabilities over the period, so we would attribute some of the ROCE growth to that. Essentially the business now has suppliers or short-term creditors funding about 30% of its operations, which isn't ideal. It's worth keeping an eye on this because as the percentage of current liabilities to total assets increases, some aspects of risk also increase.

The Key Takeaway

In summary, it's great to see that Streamwide has managed to break into profitability and is continuing to reinvest in its business. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

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

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. 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.
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