Stock Analysis

SUNeVision Holdings (HKG:1686) Will Want To Turn Around Its Return Trends

SEHK:1686
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If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Although, when we looked at SUNeVision Holdings (HKG:1686), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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 SUNeVision Holdings is:

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

0.072 = HK$1.1b ÷ (HK$19b - HK$3.9b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

Therefore, SUNeVision Holdings has an ROCE of 7.2%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 6.6%, it's still a low return by itself.

Check out our latest analysis for SUNeVision Holdings

roce
SEHK:1686 Return on Capital Employed April 18th 2023

In the above chart we have measured SUNeVision Holdings' 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.

SWOT Analysis for SUNeVision Holdings

Strength
  • Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry.
  • Debt is well covered by earnings.
Weakness
  • Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the IT market.
  • Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value.
Opportunity
  • Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the Hong Kong market.
Threat
  • Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow.
  • Dividends are not covered by earnings.
  • Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the Hong Kong market.

What Can We Tell From SUNeVision Holdings' ROCE Trend?

In terms of SUNeVision Holdings' historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 13% over the last five years. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

The Bottom Line

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that SUNeVision Holdings is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. These trends are starting to be recognized by investors since the stock has delivered a 25% gain to shareholders who've held over the last five years. Therefore we'd recommend looking further into this stock to confirm if it has the makings of a good investment.

One more thing to note, we've identified 2 warning signs with SUNeVision Holdings and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

While SUNeVision Holdings 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.