United Breweries (NSE:UBL) Will Want To Turn Around Its Return Trends

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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think United Breweries (NSE:UBL) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.

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 United Breweries, this is the formula:

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

0.10 = ₹3.7b ÷ (₹59b - ₹21b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

Thus, United Breweries has an ROCE of 10%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty standard return but compared to the Beverage industry average it falls behind.

Check out our latest analysis for United Breweries

In the above chart we have measured United Breweries' 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.

What Does the ROCE Trend For United Breweries Tell Us?

In terms of United Breweries' historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 19% over the last five years. However it looks like United Breweries 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.

In Conclusion...

To conclude, we've found that United Breweries 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 73% over the last five years. Ultimately, if the underlying trends persist, we wouldn't hold our breath on it being a multi-bagger going forward.

United Breweries could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation on our platform quite valuable.

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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.
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