What Do The Returns On Capital At Stamps.com (NASDAQ:STMP) Tell Us?

There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base 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. That's why when we briefly looked at Stamps.com's (NASDAQ:STMP) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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. The formula for this calculation on Stamps.com is:

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

0.17 = US$172m ÷ (US$1.2b - US$206m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

Thus, Stamps.com has an ROCE of 17%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 9.2% generated by the Online Retail industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Stamps.com

In the above chart we have measured Stamps.com's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Stamps.com.

How Are Returns Trending?

While the returns on capital are good, they haven't moved much. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 17% and the business has deployed 332% more capital into its operations. 17% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Stamps.com has consistently earned this amount. Over long periods of time, returns like these might not be too exciting, but with consistency they can pay off in terms of share price returns.

In Conclusion...

In the end, Stamps.com has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. On top of that, the stock has rewarded shareholders with a remarkable 102% return to those who've 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.

One more thing: We've identified 2 warning signs with Stamps.com (at least 1 which shouldn't be ignored) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.

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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