Yahoo Finance Digitalbox (LON:DBOX) Is Doing The Right Things To Multiply Its Share Price
If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing 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. So when we looked at Digitalbox (LON:DBOX) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
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 Digitalbox, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.023 = UK£311k ÷ (UK£14m - UK£477k) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
Thus, Digitalbox has an ROCE of 2.3%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Interactive Media and Services industry average of 24%.
See our latest analysis for Digitalbox
In the above chart we have measured Digitalbox'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.
What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us
We're delighted to see that Digitalbox is reaping rewards from its investments and has now broken into profitability. The company was generating losses three years ago, but has managed to turn it around and as we saw earlier is now earning 2.3%, which is always encouraging. Interestingly, the capital employed by the business has remained relatively flat, so these higher returns are either from prior investments paying off or increased efficiencies. With no noticeable increase in capital employed, it's worth knowing what the company plans on doing going forward in regards to reinvesting and growing the business. Because in the end, a business can only get so efficient.
The Bottom Line
To sum it up, Digitalbox is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. And investors seem to expect more of this going forward, since the stock has rewarded shareholders with a 90% return over the last three years. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.
If you'd like to know about the risks facing Digitalbox, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.
For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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