Returns On Capital At Southern (NYSE:SO) Paint A Concerning Picture

If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Although, when we looked at Southern (NYSE:SO), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Southern:

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

0.035 = US$4.1b ÷ (US$128b - US$11b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

So, Southern has an ROCE of 3.5%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Electric Utilities industry average of 4.6%.

View our latest analysis for Southern

In the above chart we have measured Southern'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 Southern.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

In terms of Southern's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 4.6% over the last five years. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

Our Take On Southern's ROCE

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Southern is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. Furthermore the stock has climbed 90% over the last five years, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

On a final note, we found 4 warning signs for Southern (2 shouldn't be ignored) 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. 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.