We Like These Underlying Return On Capital Trends At Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS (ELI:SEM)

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So when we looked at Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS (ELI:SEM) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

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 Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS:

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

0.10 = €295m ÷ (€3.9b - €996m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

Thus, Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS has an ROCE of 10%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 9.9%.

Check out our latest analysis for Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS

In the above chart we have measured Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS' 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 report for Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS.

How Are Returns Trending?

Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS has not disappointed with their ROCE growth. Looking at the data, we can see that even though capital employed in the business has remained relatively flat, the ROCE generated has risen by 25% over the last five years. Basically the business is generating higher returns from the same amount of capital and that is proof that there are improvements in the company's efficiencies. The company is doing well in that sense, and it's worth investigating what the management team has planned for long term growth prospects.

What We Can Learn From Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS' ROCE

In summary, we're delighted to see that Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS has been able to increase efficiencies and earn higher rates of return on the same amount of capital. Investors may not be impressed by the favorable underlying trends yet because over the last five years the stock has only returned 6.7% to shareholders. Given that, we'd look further into this stock in case it has more traits that could make it multiply in the long term.

One final note, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant) .

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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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.