Returns On Capital At Halma (LON:HLMA) Have Stalled

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. That's why when we briefly looked at Halma's (LON:HLMA) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.

What Is 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Halma:

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

0.14 = UK£331m ÷ (UK£2.8b - UK£341m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

Therefore, Halma has an ROCE of 14%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Electronic industry average of 13%.

View our latest analysis for Halma

In the above chart we have measured Halma'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 The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. The company has employed 92% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 14%. 14% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Halma has consistently earned this amount. 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.

The Key Takeaway

The main thing to remember is that Halma has proven its ability to continually reinvest at respectable rates of return. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 40% to shareholders over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.

Halma could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation on our platform quite valuable.

While Halma may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.