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If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? 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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Opera (NASDAQ:OPRA) so let's look a bit deeper.
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Opera:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.07 = US$73m ÷ (US$1.1b - US$44m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).
Thus, Opera has an ROCE of 7.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Software industry average of 9.7%.
See our latest analysis for Opera
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Opera compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Opera here for free.
What Can We Tell From Opera's ROCE Trend?
While in absolute terms it isn't a high ROCE, it's promising to see that it has been moving in the right direction. The numbers show that in the last three years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 7.0%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 75% more capital is being employed now too. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.
The Bottom Line
A company that is growing its returns on capital and can consistently reinvest in itself is a highly sought after trait, and that's what Opera has. Given the stock has declined 14% in the last year, this could be a good investment if the valuation and other metrics are also appealing. So researching this company further and determining whether or not these trends will continue seems justified.
Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Opera (of which 1 is potentially serious!) that you should know about.