Yahoo Finance Returns On Capital At nVent Electric (NYSE:NVT) Have Stalled
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. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's 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. Although, when we looked at nVent Electric (NYSE:NVT), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?
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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for nVent Electric:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.093 = US$376m ÷ (US$4.7b - US$636m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).
So, nVent Electric has an ROCE of 9.3%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 9.3%, it's still a low return by itself.
View our latest analysis for nVent Electric
In the above chart we have measured nVent Electric'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 Can We Tell From nVent Electric's ROCE Trend?
Over the past five years, nVent Electric's ROCE and capital employed have both remained mostly flat. It's not uncommon to see this when looking at a mature and stable business that isn't re-investing its earnings because it has likely passed that phase of the business cycle. With that in mind, unless investment picks up again in the future, we wouldn't expect nVent Electric to be a multi-bagger going forward. This probably explains why nVent Electric is paying out 36% of its income to shareholders in the form of dividends. Unless businesses have highly compelling growth opportunities, they'll typically return some money to shareholders.
Our Take On nVent Electric's ROCE
In summary, nVent Electric isn't compounding its earnings but is generating stable returns on the same amount of capital employed. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 32% over the last three years. Ultimately, if the underlying trends persist, we wouldn't hold our breath on it being a multi-bagger going forward.
nVent Electric does have some risks though, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for nVent Electric that you might be interested in.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.
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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.
