Some Investors May Be Worried About StarHub's (SGX:CC3) Returns On Capital

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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. However, after investigating StarHub (SGX:CC3), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.

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

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 StarHub, this is the formula:

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

0.088 = S$205m ÷ (S$3.1b - S$750m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

Thus, StarHub has an ROCE of 8.8%. On its own, that's a low figure but it's around the 8.5% average generated by the Wireless Telecom industry.

See our latest analysis for StarHub

Above you can see how the current ROCE for StarHub compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

So How Is StarHub's ROCE Trending?

In terms of StarHub's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 39% over the last five years. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.

On a related note, StarHub has decreased its current liabilities to 24% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money.

What We Can Learn From StarHub's ROCE

To conclude, we've found that StarHub is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. Since the stock has declined 39% over the last five years, investors may not be too optimistic on this trend improving either. Therefore based on the analysis done in this article, we don't think StarHub has the makings of a multi-bagger.

On a final note, we've found 3 warning signs for StarHub that we think you should be aware of.

While StarHub isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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.

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