Philippos Nakas (ATH:NAKAS) Could Be Struggling To Allocate Capital

When researching a stock for investment, what can tell us that the company is in decline? More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. This combination can tell you that not only is the company investing less, it's earning less on what it does invest. In light of that, from a first glance at Philippos Nakas (ATH:NAKAS), we've spotted some signs that it could be struggling, so let's investigate.

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 Philippos Nakas is:

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

0.034 = €808k ÷ (€29m - €5.2m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Thus, Philippos Nakas has an ROCE of 3.4%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Specialty Retail industry average of 10%.

Check out our latest analysis for Philippos Nakas

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of Philippos Nakas, check out these free graphs here.

The Trend Of ROCE

There is reason to be cautious about Philippos Nakas, given the returns are trending downwards. Unfortunately the returns on capital have diminished from the 6.5% that they were earning five years ago. On top of that, it's worth noting that the amount of capital employed within the business has remained relatively steady. This combination can be indicative of a mature business that still has areas to deploy capital, but the returns received aren't as high due potentially to new competition or smaller margins. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on Philippos Nakas becoming one if things continue as they have.

The Key Takeaway

All in all, the lower returns from the same amount of capital employed aren't exactly signs of a compounding machine. Yet despite these poor fundamentals, the stock has gained a huge 291% over the last five years, so investors appear very optimistic. In any case, the current underlying trends don't bode well for long term performance so unless they reverse, we'd start looking elsewhere.

Philippos Nakas does come with some risks though, we found 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those is a bit unpleasant...

While Philippos Nakas 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. 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.
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