Return Trends At John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) Aren't Appealing

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think John Wiley & Sons (NYSE:WLY) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for John Wiley & Sons:

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

0.092 = US$235m ÷ (US$3.4b - US$821m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to January 2022).

Therefore, John Wiley & Sons has an ROCE of 9.2%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Media industry average of 7.0%.

Check out our latest analysis for John Wiley & Sons

Above you can see how the current ROCE for John Wiley & Sons 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 John Wiley & Sons.

So How Is John Wiley & Sons' ROCE Trending?

There hasn't been much to report for John Wiley & Sons' returns and its level of capital employed because both metrics have been steady for the past five years. Businesses with these traits tend to be mature and steady operations because they're past the growth phase. So unless we see a substantial change at John Wiley & Sons in terms of ROCE and additional investments being made, we wouldn't hold our breath on it being a multi-bagger. This probably explains why John Wiley & Sons is paying out 33% of its income to shareholders in the form of dividends. Unless businesses have highly compelling growth opportunities, they'll typically return some money to shareholders.

In Conclusion...

In summary, John Wiley & Sons isn't compounding its earnings but is generating stable returns on the same amount of capital employed. And investors may be recognizing these trends since the stock has only returned a total of 15% to shareholders over the last five years. As a result, if you're hunting for a multi-bagger, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.

Like most companies, John Wiley & Sons does come with some risks, and we've found 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive 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.