If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount 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. Ergo, when we looked at the ROCE trends at Greggs (LON:GRG), we liked what we saw.
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 Greggs, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.22 = UK£153m ÷ (UK£888m - UK£207m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to January 2022).
Therefore, Greggs has an ROCE of 22%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Hospitality industry average of 4.0%.
Check out our latest analysis for Greggs
In the above chart we have measured Greggs' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
So How Is Greggs' ROCE Trending?
In terms of Greggs' history of ROCE, it's quite impressive. The company has consistently earned 22% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 131% in that time. With returns that high, it's great that the business can continually reinvest its money at such appealing rates of return. You'll see this when looking at well operated businesses or favorable business models.
The Key Takeaway
In short, we'd argue Greggs has the makings of a multi-bagger since its been able to compound its capital at very profitable rates of return. On top of that, the stock has rewarded shareholders with a remarkable 133% return to those who've held over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.
If you want to continue researching Greggs, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.
High returns are a key ingredient to strong performance, so check out our free list ofstocks earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
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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.
About LSE:GRG
Adequate balance sheet average dividend payer.
