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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? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So, when we ran our eye over Aristocrat Leisure's (ASX:ALL) trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
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. The formula for this calculation on Aristocrat Leisure is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.20 = AU$1.8b ÷ (AU$10b - AU$1.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).
Therefore, Aristocrat Leisure has an ROCE of 20%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 8.2% earned by companies in a similar industry.
See our latest analysis for Aristocrat Leisure
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Aristocrat Leisure 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 Aristocrat Leisure .
So How Is Aristocrat Leisure's ROCE Trending?
In terms of Aristocrat Leisure's history of ROCE, it's quite impressive. The company has consistently earned 20% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 80% in that time. Now considering ROCE is an attractive 20%, this combination is actually pretty appealing because it means the business can consistently put money to work and generate these high returns. If Aristocrat Leisure can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.
What We Can Learn From Aristocrat Leisure's ROCE
In summary, we're delighted to see that Aristocrat Leisure has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. Therefore it's no surprise that shareholders have earned a respectable 63% return if they held over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
While Aristocrat Leisure looks impressive, no company is worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic for ALL helps visualize whether it is currently trading for a fair price.