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Some Investors May Be Worried About Cake Box Holdings' (LON:CBOX) Returns On Capital

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. Looking at Cake Box Holdings (LON:CBOX), it does have a high ROCE right now, but lets see how returns are trending.

What is 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. The formula for this calculation on Cake Box Holdings is:

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

0.36 = UK£4.7m ÷ (UK£18m - UK£4.9m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

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Thus, Cake Box Holdings has an ROCE of 36%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 14% earned by companies in a similar industry.

View our latest analysis for Cake Box Holdings

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In the above chart we have measured Cake Box Holdings' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Cake Box Holdings.

What Can We Tell From Cake Box Holdings' ROCE Trend?

In terms of Cake Box Holdings' historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. While it's comforting that the ROCE is high, five years ago it was 59%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

On a side note, Cake Box Holdings has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 27% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

In Conclusion...

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Cake Box Holdings. And long term investors must be optimistic going forward because the stock has returned a huge 156% to shareholders in the last three years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

One more thing, we've spotted 2 warning signs facing Cake Box Holdings that you might find interesting.

If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high returns on equity.

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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