Sunflower Sustainable Investments (TLV:SNFL) Has Some Difficulty Using Its Capital Effectively

What financial metrics can indicate to us that a company is maturing or even in decline? More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. Basically the company is earning less on its investments and it is also reducing its total assets. So after glancing at the trends within Sunflower Sustainable Investments (TLV:SNFL), we weren't too hopeful.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Sunflower Sustainable Investments:

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

0.032 = ₪12m ÷ (₪378m - ₪19m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

So, Sunflower Sustainable Investments has an ROCE of 3.2%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Renewable Energy industry average of 7.0%.

Check out our latest analysis for Sunflower Sustainable Investments

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'd like to look at how Sunflower Sustainable Investments has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

We are a bit anxious about the trends of ROCE at Sunflower Sustainable Investments. Unfortunately, returns have declined substantially over the last five years to the 3.2% we see today. In addition to that, Sunflower Sustainable Investments is now employing 56% less capital than it was five years ago. The fact that both are shrinking is an indication that the business is going through some tough times. Typically businesses that exhibit these characteristics aren't the ones that tend to multiply over the long term, because statistically speaking, they've already gone through the growth phase of their life cycle.

On a side note, Sunflower Sustainable Investments has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 5.1% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

Our Take On Sunflower Sustainable Investments' ROCE

To see Sunflower Sustainable Investments reducing the capital employed in the business in tandem with diminishing returns, is concerning. Yet despite these concerning fundamentals, the stock has performed strongly with a 41% return 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.

One more thing, we've spotted 3 warning signs facing Sunflower Sustainable Investments that you might find interesting.

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.

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.

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