Here's What's Concerning About Stamford Tyres (SGX:S29)

What financial metrics can indicate to us that a company is maturing or even in decline? Typically, we'll see the trend of both return on capital employed (ROCE) declining and this usually coincides with a decreasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately this means that the company is earning less per dollar invested and on top of that, it's shrinking its base of capital employed. So after we looked into Stamford Tyres (SGX:S29), the trends above didn't look too great.

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. To calculate this metric for Stamford Tyres, this is the formula:

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

0.021 = S$3.2m ÷ (S$258m - S$109m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2020).

Thus, Stamford Tyres has an ROCE of 2.1%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Retail Distributors industry average of 4.6%.

View our latest analysis for Stamford Tyres

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're interested in investigating Stamford Tyres' past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Stamford Tyres Tell Us?

We are a bit worried about the trend of returns on capital at Stamford Tyres. About five years ago, returns on capital were 5.1%, however they're now substantially lower than that as we saw above. On top of that, it's worth noting that the amount of capital employed within the business has remained relatively steady. Since returns are falling and the business has the same amount of assets employed, this can suggest it's a mature business that hasn't had much growth in the last five years. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on Stamford Tyres becoming one if things continue as they have.

On a side note, Stamford Tyres' current liabilities are still rather high at 42% of total assets. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. Ideally we'd like to see this reduce as that would mean fewer obligations bearing risks.

The Bottom Line

In the end, the trend of lower returns on the same amount of capital isn't typically an indication that we're looking at a growth stock. It should come as no surprise then that the stock has fallen 24% over the last five years, so it looks like investors are recognizing these changes. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

If you want to know some of the risks facing Stamford Tyres we've found 4 warning signs (2 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.

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