Watches of Switzerland Group's (LON:WOSG) Returns On Capital Are Heading Higher

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. So on that note, Watches of Switzerland Group (LON:WOSG) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

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 Watches of Switzerland Group is:

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

0.18 = UK£164m ÷ (UK£1.2b - UK£310m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2022).

Therefore, Watches of Switzerland Group has an ROCE of 18%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Specialty Retail industry average of 13% it's much better.

View our latest analysis for Watches of Switzerland Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Watches of Switzerland 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 Does the ROCE Trend For Watches of Switzerland Group Tell Us?

Watches of Switzerland Group is displaying some positive trends. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 18%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 233%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

One more thing to note, Watches of Switzerland Group has decreased current liabilities to 25% of total assets over this period, which effectively reduces the amount of funding from suppliers or short-term creditors. So this improvement in ROCE has come from the business' underlying economics, which is great to see.

In Conclusion...

In summary, it's great to see that Watches of Switzerland Group can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last three years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.

Before jumping to any conclusions though, we need to know what value we're getting for the current share price. That's where you can check out our FREE intrinsic value estimation that compares the share price and estimated value.

While Watches of Switzerland Group isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are 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.