Some Investors May Be Worried About Kerry Group's (ISE:KRZ) Returns On Capital

If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount 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. In light of that, when we looked at Kerry Group (ISE:KRZ) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Kerry Group, this is the formula:

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

0.096 = €756m ÷ (€9.8b - €1.9b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

So, Kerry Group has an ROCE of 9.6%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Food industry average of 8.3%.

View our latest analysis for Kerry Group

In the above chart we have measured Kerry Group's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Kerry Group here for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

In terms of Kerry Group's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 9.6% from 13% five years ago. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. 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.

The Bottom Line On Kerry Group's ROCE

To conclude, we've found that Kerry Group is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 74% over the last five years. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

If you're still interested in Kerry Group it's worth checking out our FREE intrinsic value approximation to see if it's trading at an attractive price in other respects.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.

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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.