Why You Should Care About Bahnhof's (NGM:BAHN B) Strong Returns On Capital

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Ergo, when we looked at the ROCE trends at Bahnhof (NGM:BAHN B), we liked what we saw.

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

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 Bahnhof is:

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

0.42 = kr164m ÷ (kr796m - kr405m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

Thus, Bahnhof has an ROCE of 42%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Telecom industry average of 8.1%.

View our latest analysis for Bahnhof

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 Bahnhof has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Bahnhof Tell Us?

In terms of Bahnhof's history of ROCE, it's quite impressive. The company has employed 108% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 42%. Returns like this are the envy of most businesses and given it has repeatedly reinvested at these rates, that's even better. You'll see this when looking at well operated businesses or favorable business models.

On a side note, Bahnhof's current liabilities are still rather high at 51% 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. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.

The Key Takeaway

In the end, the company has proven it can reinvest it's capital at high rates of returns, which you'll remember is a trait of a multi-bagger. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 198% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing Bahnhof, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

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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