We Like These Underlying Return On Capital Trends At Centrum Finansowe (WSE:CFS)

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Centrum Finansowe (WSE:CFS) so let's look a bit deeper.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Centrum Finansowe, this is the formula:

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

0.18 = zł9.1m ÷ (zł55m - zł3.1m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

So, Centrum Finansowe has an ROCE of 18%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Commercial Services industry average of 13% it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Centrum Finansowe

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

The Trend Of ROCE

Investors would be pleased with what's happening at Centrum Finansowe. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 18%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 128%. 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 5.6%, 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.

The Bottom Line On Centrum Finansowe's ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Centrum Finansowe can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. And since the stock has fallen 19% over the last five years, there might be an opportunity here. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.

One more thing, we've spotted 5 warning signs facing Centrum Finansowe that you might find interesting.

While Centrum Finansowe 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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