Capital Investment Trends At Universal Music Group (AMS:UMG) Look Strong

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. With that in mind, the ROCE of Universal Music Group (AMS:UMG) looks attractive right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

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What Is 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. The formula for this calculation on Universal Music Group is:

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

0.20 = €1.9b ÷ (€17b - €7.6b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

Thus, Universal Music Group has an ROCE of 20%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Entertainment industry average of 13%.

Check out our latest analysis for Universal Music Group

In the above chart we have measured Universal Music Group's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Universal Music Group .

What Can We Tell From Universal Music Group's ROCE Trend?

We'd be pretty happy with returns on capital like Universal Music Group. The company has employed 106% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 20%. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 20%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If these trends can continue, it wouldn't surprise us if the company became a multi-bagger.

On a side note, Universal Music Group's current liabilities are still rather high at 44% of total assets. This effectively means that suppliers (or short-term creditors) are funding a large portion of the business, so just be aware that this can introduce some elements of risk. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower.

Our Take On Universal Music Group's ROCE

In summary, we're delighted to see that Universal Music Group has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. However, over the last three years, the stock has only delivered a 22% return to shareholders who held over that period. That's why it could be worth your time looking into this stock further to discover if it has more traits of a multi-bagger.

One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing Universal Music Group that you might find interesting.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets here.

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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.