Returns On Capital At Uni-Select (TSE:UNS) Paint An Interesting Picture
If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount 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. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think Uni-Select (TSE:UNS) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.
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 Uni-Select is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.03 = US$32m ÷ (US$1.4b - US$307m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).
So, Uni-Select has an ROCE of 3.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Retail Distributors industry average of 16%.
View our latest analysis for Uni-Select
In the above chart we have measured Uni-Select'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 Uni-Select.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
The trend of ROCE doesn't look fantastic because it's fallen from 16% five years ago, while the business's capital employed increased by 119%. However, some of the increase in capital employed could be attributed to the recent capital raising that's been completed prior to their latest reporting period, so keep that in mind when looking at the ROCE decrease. The funds raised likely haven't been put to work yet so it's worth watching what happens in the future with Uni-Select's earnings and if they change as a result from the capital raise.
On a related note, Uni-Select has decreased its current liabilities to 23% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.
The Bottom Line On Uni-Select's ROCE
Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Uni-Select's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. It seems that investors have little hope of these trends getting any better and that may have partly contributed to the stock collapsing 77% in the last five years. Therefore based on the analysis done in this article, we don't think Uni-Select has the makings of a multi-bagger.
If you'd like to know more about Uni-Select, we've spotted 2 warning signs, and 1 of them can't be ignored.
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.
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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