Returns On Capital Signal Tricky Times Ahead For Burberry Group (LON:BRBY)

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount 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. Although, when we looked at Burberry Group (LON:BRBY), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

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. To calculate this metric for Burberry Group, this is the formula:

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

0.15 = UK£415m ÷ (UK£3.5b - UK£703m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

Thus, Burberry Group has an ROCE of 15%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 15%.

Check out our latest analysis for Burberry Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Burberry Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Burberry Group here for free.

So How Is Burberry Group's ROCE Trending?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at Burberry Group, we didn't gain much confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 23% over the last five years. Given the business is employing more capital while revenue has slipped, this is a bit concerning. This could mean that the business is losing its competitive advantage or market share, because while more money is being put into ventures, it's actually producing a lower return - "less bang for their buck" per se.

The Key Takeaway

From the above analysis, we find it rather worrisome that returns on capital and sales for Burberry Group have fallen, meanwhile the business is employing more capital than it was five years ago. Yet despite these concerning fundamentals, the stock has performed strongly with a 56% return over the last five years, so investors appear very optimistic. Regardless, we don't feel too comfortable with the fundamentals so we'd be steering clear of this stock for now.

On a separate note, we've found 3 warning signs for Burberry Group you'll probably want to know about.

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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