Eonmetall Group Berhad (KLSE:EMETALL) Has More To Do To Multiply In Value Going Forward

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Having said that, from a first glance at Eonmetall Group Berhad (KLSE:EMETALL) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

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 Eonmetall Group Berhad:

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

0.04 = RM12m ÷ (RM503m - RM195m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

So, Eonmetall Group Berhad has an ROCE of 4.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Metals and Mining industry average of 4.6%.

Check out our latest analysis for Eonmetall Group Berhad

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 Eonmetall Group Berhad 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

The returns on capital haven't changed much for Eonmetall Group Berhad in recent years. The company has employed 90% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 4.0%. Given the company has increased the amount of capital employed, it appears the investments that have been made simply don't provide a high return on capital.

Another point to note, we noticed the company has increased current liabilities over the last five years. This is intriguing because if current liabilities hadn't increased to 39% of total assets, this reported ROCE would probably be less than4.0% because total capital employed would be higher.The 4.0% ROCE could be even lower if current liabilities weren't 39% of total assets, because the the formula would show a larger base of total capital employed. So while current liabilities isn't high right now, keep an eye out in case it increases further, because this can introduce some elements of risk.

Our Take On Eonmetall Group Berhad's ROCE

In conclusion, Eonmetall Group Berhad has been investing more capital into the business, but returns on that capital haven't increased. Investors must think there's better things to come because the stock has knocked it out of the park, delivering a 133% gain to shareholders who have held over the last five years. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

Eonmetall Group Berhad does have some risks, we noticed 4 warning signs (and 2 which are significant) we think you should know about.

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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