Should You Be Impressed By Rogers' (NYSE:ROG) Returns on Capital?

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. In light of that, when we looked at Rogers (NYSE:ROG) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Rogers is:

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

0.034 = US$39m ÷ (US$1.3b - US$106m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

Thus, Rogers has an ROCE of 3.4%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Electronic industry average of 11%.

Check out our latest analysis for Rogers

In the above chart we have measured Rogers' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

The Trend Of ROCE

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Rogers doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 3.4% from 11% five years ago. Given the business is employing more capital while revenue has slipped, this is a bit concerning. If this were to continue, you might be looking at a company that is trying to reinvest for growth but is actually losing market share since sales haven't increased.

In Conclusion...

From the above analysis, we find it rather worrisome that returns on capital and sales for Rogers have fallen, meanwhile the business is employing more capital than it was five years ago. The market must be rosy on the stock's future because even though the underlying trends aren't too encouraging, the stock has soared 250%. Regardless, we don't feel too comfortable with the fundamentals so we'd be steering clear of this stock for now.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing Rogers, we've discovered 4 warning signs that you should be aware of.

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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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