What Do The Returns At National Energy Services Reunited (NASDAQ:NESR) Mean Going Forward?

What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? 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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in National Energy Services Reunited's (NASDAQ:NESR) 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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for National Energy Services Reunited:

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

0.05 = US$66m ÷ (US$1.7b - US$330m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

So, National Energy Services Reunited has an ROCE of 5.0%. On its own, that's a low figure but it's around the 5.5% average generated by the Energy Services industry.

Check out our latest analysis for National Energy Services Reunited

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In the above chart we have a measured National Energy Services Reunited'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 National Energy Services Reunited.

The Trend Of ROCE

National Energy Services Reunited has recently broken into profitability so their prior investments seem to be paying off. The company was generating losses two years ago, but now it's earning 5.0% which is a sight for sore eyes. In addition to that, National Energy Services Reunited is employing 35% more capital than previously which is expected of a company that's trying to break into profitability. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, both common traits of a multi-bagger.

What We Can Learn From National Energy Services Reunited's ROCE

Long story short, we're delighted to see that National Energy Services Reunited's reinvestment activities have paid off and the company is now profitable. And since the stock has fallen 20% over the last three years, there might be an opportunity here. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.

One more thing to note, we've identified 4 warning signs with National Energy Services Reunited and understanding these should be part of your investment process.

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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