When it comes to investing, there are some useful financial metrics that can warn us when a business is potentially in trouble. A business that's potentially in decline often shows two trends, a return on capital employed (ROCE) that's declining, and a base of capital employed that's also declining. Trends like this ultimately mean the business is reducing its investments and also earning less on what it has invested. So after glancing at the trends within Kronos Worldwide (NYSE:KRO), we weren't too hopeful.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Kronos Worldwide, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.023 = US$32m ÷ (US$1.7b - US$273m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Therefore, Kronos Worldwide has an ROCE of 2.3%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Chemicals industry average of 8.7%.

View our latest analysis for Kronos Worldwide

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Kronos Worldwide 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 analyst report for Kronos Worldwide .

What Can We Tell From Kronos Worldwide's ROCE Trend?

There is reason to be cautious about Kronos Worldwide, given the returns are trending downwards. To be more specific, the ROCE was 10% five years ago, but since then it has dropped noticeably. Meanwhile, capital employed in the business has stayed roughly the flat over the period. Since returns are falling and the business has the same amount of assets employed, this can suggest it's a mature business that hasn't had much growth in the last five years. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on Kronos Worldwide becoming one if things continue as they have.

The Bottom Line

All in all, the lower returns from the same amount of capital employed aren't exactly signs of a compounding machine. Despite the concerning underlying trends, the stock has actually gained 39% over the last five years, so it might be that the investors are expecting the trends to reverse. Regardless, we don't like the trends as they are and if they persist, we think you might find better investments elsewhere.