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Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Having said that, from a first glance at AMN Healthcare Services (NYSE:AMN) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?
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 AMN Healthcare Services is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.11 = US$226m ÷ (US$2.6b - US$599m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).
So, AMN Healthcare Services has an ROCE of 11%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 11%.
See our latest analysis for AMN Healthcare Services
Above you can see how the current ROCE for AMN Healthcare Services compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
When we looked at the ROCE trend at AMN Healthcare Services, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 19%, but since then they've fallen to 11%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.
In Conclusion...
In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that AMN Healthcare Services is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 148% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So while the underlying trends could already be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
On a final note, we've found 2 warning signs for AMN Healthcare Services that we think you should be aware of.