Returns On Capital Are Showing Encouraging Signs At BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings (NYSE:BJ)

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. So when we looked at BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings (NYSE:BJ) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings:

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

0.18 = US$695m ÷ (US$6.4b - US$2.5b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to July 2022).

Therefore, BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings has an ROCE of 18%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 8.9% generated by the Consumer Retailing industry.

See our latest analysis for BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings

Above you can see how the current ROCE for BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings.

What Does the ROCE Trend For BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings Tell Us?

We like the trends that we're seeing from BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 18%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 103%. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

In Conclusion...

All in all, it's terrific to see that BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last three years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.

On a separate note, we've found 2 warning signs for BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings you'll probably want to know about.

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

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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.