Severn Trent (LON:SVT) Will Want To Turn Around Its Return Trends

What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at Severn Trent (LON:SVT) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on Severn Trent is:

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

0.047 = UK£465m ÷ (UK£11b - UK£1.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

Thus, Severn Trent has an ROCE of 4.7%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 4.7%, it's still a low return by itself.

See our latest analysis for Severn Trent

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Severn Trent 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.

So How Is Severn Trent's ROCE Trending?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Severn Trent doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 6.3% over the last five years. However it looks like Severn Trent might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.

Our Take On Severn Trent's ROCE

Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Severn Trent's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And with the stock having returned a mere 36% in the last five years to shareholders, you could argue that they're aware of these lackluster trends. Therefore, if you're looking for a multi-bagger, we'd propose looking at other options.

On a final note, we found 3 warning signs for Severn Trent (1 is concerning) you should be aware of.

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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