Mondi's (LON:MNDI) Returns Have Hit A Wall

There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So, when we ran our eye over Mondi's (LON:MNDI) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Mondi is:

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

0.14 = €1.1b ÷ (€9.3b - €1.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

Thus, Mondi has an ROCE of 14%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 9.9% generated by the Forestry industry.

See our latest analysis for Mondi

In the above chart we have measured Mondi's 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.

What Can We Tell From Mondi's ROCE Trend?

While the returns on capital are good, they haven't moved much. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 14% and the business has deployed 40% more capital into its operations. Since 14% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.

In Conclusion...

To sum it up, Mondi has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. Despite the good fundamentals, total returns from the stock have been virtually flat over the last five years. That's why we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the fundamentals are appealing.

One more thing to note, we've identified 2 warning signs with Mondi and understanding these should be part of your investment process.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high 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.