We Like DICK'S Sporting Goods' (NYSE:DKS) Returns And Here's How They're Trending

If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in DICK'S Sporting Goods' (NYSE:DKS) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

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. To calculate this metric for DICK'S Sporting Goods, this is the formula:

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

0.22 = US$1.5b ÷ (US$9.1b - US$2.5b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2023).

So, DICK'S Sporting Goods has an ROCE of 22%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Specialty Retail industry average of 13%.

Check out our latest analysis for DICK'S Sporting Goods

In the above chart we have measured DICK'S Sporting Goods' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering DICK'S Sporting Goods here for free.

So How Is DICK'S Sporting Goods' ROCE Trending?

DICK'S Sporting Goods is displaying some positive trends. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 22%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 120%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

The Key Takeaway

To sum it up, DICK'S Sporting Goods has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. And a remarkable 373% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for DICK'S Sporting Goods (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should know about.

If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning 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.