Capital Investments At Graco (NYSE:GGG) Point To A Promising Future

Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? 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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So, when we ran our eye over Graco's (NYSE:GGG) trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on Graco is:

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

0.27 = US$606m ÷ (US$2.7b - US$489m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

So, Graco has an ROCE of 27%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Machinery industry average of 12%.

View our latest analysis for Graco

In the above chart we have measured Graco's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

How Are Returns Trending?

It's hard not to be impressed by Graco's returns on capital. The company has employed 84% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 27%. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 27%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. You'll see this when looking at well operated businesses or favorable business models.

The Key Takeaway

Graco has demonstrated its proficiency by generating high returns on increasing amounts of capital employed, which we're thrilled about. Therefore it's no surprise that shareholders have earned a respectable 68% return if they held over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

While Graco looks impressive, no company is worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether GGG is currently trading for a fair price.

Graco is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.

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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.