Returns On Capital Are Showing Encouraging Signs At Lubawa (WSE:LBW)

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Lubawa's (WSE:LBW) returns on capital, so let's have a 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. The formula for this calculation on Lubawa is:

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

0.082 = zł28m ÷ (zł411m - zł74m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).

Therefore, Lubawa has an ROCE of 8.2%. In absolute terms, that's a low return but it's around the Aerospace & Defense industry average of 8.9%.

See our latest analysis for Lubawa

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Lubawa's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating Lubawa's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

While in absolute terms it isn't a high ROCE, it's promising to see that it has been moving in the right direction. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 8.2%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 35%. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.

In another part of our analysis, we noticed that the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets decreased to 18%, which broadly means the business is relying less on its suppliers or short-term creditors to fund its operations. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books.

In Conclusion...

To sum it up, Lubawa has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. And with a respectable 45% awarded to those who held the stock over the last five years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Lubawa can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

One more thing, we've spotted 2 warning signs facing Lubawa that you might find interesting.

While Lubawa 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. 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.