Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Has Some Way To Go To Become A Multi-Bagger

If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount 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. With that in mind, the ROCE of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) looks decent, right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

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 Sprouts Farmers Market, this is the formula:

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

0.15 = US$387m ÷ (US$3.2b - US$538m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to July 2023).

So, Sprouts Farmers Market has an ROCE of 15%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Consumer Retailing industry average of 13%.

View our latest analysis for Sprouts Farmers Market

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Sprouts Farmers Market 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.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. The company has consistently earned 15% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 95% in that time. Since 15% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.

The Key Takeaway

In the end, Sprouts Farmers Market has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 59% to shareholders over the last five years. So even though the stock might be more "expensive" than it was before, we think the strong fundamentals warrant this stock for further research.

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

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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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.