Investors Will Want Penske Automotive Group's (NYSE:PAG) Growth In ROCE To Persist

If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Penske Automotive Group (NYSE:PAG) so let's look a bit deeper.

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

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Penske Automotive Group is:

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

0.16 = US$1.5b ÷ (US$14b - US$4.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

Thus, Penske Automotive Group has an ROCE of 16%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 17% generated by the Specialty Retail industry.

View our latest analysis for Penske Automotive Group

In the above chart we have measured Penske Automotive Group's 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 Penske Automotive Group here for free.

What Does the ROCE Trend For Penske Automotive Group Tell Us?

Penske Automotive Group is displaying some positive trends. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 16%. 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 70%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 33%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. So this improvement in ROCE has come from the business' underlying economics, which is great to see.

What We Can Learn From Penske Automotive Group's ROCE

All in all, it's terrific to see that Penske Automotive Group is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. And a remarkable 256% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. 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.

Penske Automotive Group does come with some risks though, we found 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...

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.