Domino's Pizza Group (LON:DOM) Will Want To Turn Around Its Return Trends

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Looking at Domino's Pizza Group (LON:DOM), it does have a high ROCE right now, but lets see how returns are trending.

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 Domino's Pizza Group:

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

0.27 = UK£106m ÷ (UK£530m - UK£139m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

Thus, Domino's Pizza Group has an ROCE of 27%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 8.9% earned by companies in a similar industry.

See our latest analysis for Domino's Pizza Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Domino's Pizza Group 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 The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Domino's Pizza Group doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, while the ROCE is still high, it's fallen from 55% where it was five years ago. However it looks like Domino's Pizza Group 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 may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

In Conclusion...

To conclude, we've found that Domino's Pizza Group is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. And with the stock having returned a mere 26% in the last five years to shareholders, you could argue that they're aware of these lackluster trends. As a result, if you're hunting for a multi-bagger, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.

If you'd like to know more about Domino's Pizza Group, we've spotted 4 warning signs, and 2 of them are a bit unpleasant.

Domino's Pizza Group is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.

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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