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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? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Weyco Group's (NASDAQ:WEYS) returns on capital, so let's have a look.
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. The formula for this calculation on Weyco Group is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.13 = US$37m ÷ (US$324m - US$47m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).
Thus, Weyco Group has an ROCE of 13%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 12% generated by the Retail Distributors industry.
View our latest analysis for Weyco Group
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Weyco Group's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating Weyco Group's past further, check out this free graph covering Weyco Group's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
Weyco Group's ROCE growth is quite impressive. More specifically, while the company has kept capital employed relatively flat over the last five years, the ROCE has climbed 26% in that same time. So our take on this is that the business has increased efficiencies to generate these higher returns, all the while not needing to make any additional investments. On that front, things are looking good so it's worth exploring what management has said about growth plans going forward.
The Bottom Line
As discussed above, Weyco Group appears to be getting more proficient at generating returns since capital employed has remained flat but earnings (before interest and tax) are up. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.
One more thing to note, we've identified 1 warning sign with Weyco Group and understanding this should be part of your investment process.