Our Take On The Returns On Capital At Sandesh (NSE:SANDESH)

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base 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 Sandesh (NSE:SANDESH), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

What is 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Sandesh:

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

0.13 = ₹1.1b ÷ (₹8.9b - ₹454m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

Therefore, Sandesh has an ROCE of 13%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 13%.

Check out our latest analysis for Sandesh

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Sandesh's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of Sandesh, check out these free graphs here.

How Are Returns Trending?

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Sandesh doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 13% from 22% five years ago. And considering revenue has dropped while employing more capital, we'd be cautious. This could mean that the business is losing its competitive advantage or market share, because while more money is being put into ventures, it's actually producing a lower return - "less bang for their buck" per se.

On a related note, Sandesh has decreased its current liabilities to 5.1% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. 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.

The Bottom Line

From the above analysis, we find it rather worrisome that returns on capital and sales for Sandesh have fallen, meanwhile the business is employing more capital than it was five years ago. Investors must expect better things on the horizon though because the stock has risen 11% in the last five years. Either way, we aren't huge fans of the current trends and so with that we think you might find better investments elsewhere.

One final note, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Sandesh (including 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) .

While Sandesh 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. 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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