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What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.
What Is 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. To calculate this metric for Hasbro, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.11 = US$717m ÷ (US$8.3b - US$2.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2023).
Thus, Hasbro has an ROCE of 11%. In isolation, that's a pretty standard return but against the Leisure industry average of 15%, it's not as good.
See our latest analysis for Hasbro
In the above chart we have measured Hasbro's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
So How Is Hasbro's ROCE Trending?
When we looked at the ROCE trend at Hasbro, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 11% from 15% five years ago. And considering revenue has dropped while employing more capital, we'd be cautious. This could mean that the business is losing its competitive advantage or market share, because while more money is being put into ventures, it's actually producing a lower return - "less bang for their buck" per se.
The Bottom Line
From the above analysis, we find it rather worrisome that returns on capital and sales for Hasbro have fallen, meanwhile the business is employing more capital than it was five years ago. Investors haven't taken kindly to these developments, since the stock has declined 40% from where it was five years ago. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.
On a final note, we've found 2 warning signs for Hasbro that we think you should be aware of.