Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) Will Be Hoping To Turn Its Returns On Capital Around

When we're researching a company, it's sometimes hard to find the warning signs, but there are some financial metrics that can help spot trouble early. When we see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) in conjunction with a declining base of capital employed, that's often how a mature business shows signs of aging. This indicates the company is producing less profit from its investments and its total assets are decreasing. On that note, looking into Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO), we weren't too upbeat about how things were going.

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

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Alico:

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

0.028 = US$11m ÷ (US$429m - US$27m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

Therefore, Alico has an ROCE of 2.8%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Food industry average of 10%.

Check out our latest analysis for Alico

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Alico compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Alico here for free.

How Are Returns Trending?

In terms of Alico's historical ROCE movements, the trend doesn't inspire confidence. About five years ago, returns on capital were 6.7%, 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. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect Alico to turn into a multi-bagger.

The Key Takeaway

All in all, the lower returns from the same amount of capital employed aren't exactly signs of a compounding machine. Despite the concerning underlying trends, the stock has actually gained 17% over the last five years, so it might be that the investors are expecting the trends to reverse. Regardless, we don't like the trends as they are and if they persist, we think you might find better investments elsewhere.

On a final note, we found 5 warning signs for Alico (2 make us uncomfortable) you should be aware of.

While Alico may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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