Returns On Capital At Jet2 (LON:JET2) Have Hit The Brakes

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. 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 Jet2's (LON:JET2) 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. The formula for this calculation on Jet2 is:

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

0.14 = UK£363m ÷ (UK£4.7b - UK£2.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).

Thus, Jet2 has an ROCE of 14%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 13% generated by the Airlines industry.

View our latest analysis for Jet2

In the above chart we have measured Jet2'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 consistently earned 14% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 144% in that time. 14% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Jet2 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.

On a side note, Jet2 has done well to reduce current liabilities to 43% of total assets over the last five years. Effectively suppliers now fund less of the business, which can lower some elements of risk. Although because current liabilities are still 43%, some of that risk is still prevalent.

The Bottom Line

The main thing to remember is that Jet2 has proven its ability to continually reinvest at respectable rates of return. Therefore it's no surprise that shareholders have earned a respectable 55% return if they held over the last five years. So even though the stock might be more "expensive" than it was before, we think the strong fundamentals warrant this stock for further research.

Jet2 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 Jet2 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.