DRB Industrial's (KRX:163560) Returns Have Hit A Wall

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, 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 DRB Industrial (KRX:163560), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

What Is 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. The formula for this calculation on DRB Industrial is:

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

0.056 = ₩14b ÷ (₩355b - ₩113b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

Thus, DRB Industrial has an ROCE of 5.6%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Auto Components industry average of 8.7%.

See our latest analysis for DRB Industrial

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

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

Things have been pretty stable at DRB Industrial, with its capital employed and returns on that capital staying somewhat the same for the last five years. It's not uncommon to see this when looking at a mature and stable business that isn't re-investing its earnings because it has likely passed that phase of the business cycle. So unless we see a substantial change at DRB Industrial in terms of ROCE and additional investments being made, we wouldn't hold our breath on it being a multi-bagger.

The Bottom Line On DRB Industrial's ROCE

We can conclude that in regards to DRB Industrial's returns on capital employed and the trends, there isn't much change to report on. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 49% over the last five years. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

DRB Industrial does have some risks, we noticed 4 warning signs (and 1 which shouldn't be ignored) we think you should know about.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.