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. 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, the ROCE of Schneider Electric (EPA:SU) looks decent, right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.
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. To calculate this metric for Schneider Electric, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets – Current Liabilities)
0.11 = €4.4b ÷ (€53b – €15b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).
Thus, Schneider Electric has an ROCE of 11%. In isolation, that’s a pretty standard return but against the Electrical industry average of 14%, it’s not as good.
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Schneider Electric compares to its prior returns on capital, but there’s only so much you can tell from the past. If you’d like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Schneider Electric.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
While the returns on capital are good, they haven’t moved much. The company has consistently earned 11% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 24% in that time. Since 11% is a moderate ROCE though, it’s good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.
The Bottom Line
To sum it up, Schneider Electric has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. And long term investors would be thrilled with the 199% return they’ve received over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
One more thing, we’ve spotted 1 warning sign facing Schneider Electric that you might find interesting.
While Schneider Electric may not currently earn the highest returns, we’ve compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.
About Schneider Electric
Schneider’s purpose is to empower all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability for all. We call this Life Is On.
Our mission is to be your digital partner for Sustainability and Efficiency.
We drive digital transformation by integrating world-leading process and energy technologies, end-point to cloud connecting products, controls, software and services, across the entire lifecycle, enabling integrated company management, for homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries.
We are the most local of global companies. We are advocates of open standards and partnership ecosystems that are passionate about our shared Meaningful Purpose, Inclusive and Empowered values.
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