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Is Scales Corporation Limited’s (NZSE:SCL) Return On Capital Employed Any Good?

Today we'll look at Scales Corporation Limited (NZSE:SCL) and reflect on its potential as an investment. In particular, we'll consider its Return On Capital Employed (ROCE), as that can give us insight into how profitably the company is able to employ capital in its business.

First up, we'll look at what ROCE is and how we calculate it. Second, we'll look at its ROCE compared to similar companies. Then we'll determine how its current liabilities are affecting its ROCE.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Generally speaking a higher ROCE is better. Ultimately, it is a useful but imperfect metric. Renowned investment researcher Michael Mauboussin has suggested that a high ROCE can indicate that 'one dollar invested in the company generates value of more than one dollar'.

How Do You Calculate Return On Capital Employed?

The formula for calculating the return on capital employed is:

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

Or for Scales:

0.077 = NZ$40m ÷ (NZ$622m - NZ$110m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2019.)

Therefore, Scales has an ROCE of 7.7%.

See our latest analysis for Scales

Does Scales Have A Good ROCE?

ROCE is commonly used for comparing the performance of similar businesses. We can see Scales's ROCE is around the 7.9% average reported by the Food industry. Aside from the industry comparison, Scales's ROCE is mediocre in absolute terms, considering the risk of investing in stocks versus the safety of a bank account. Investors may wish to consider higher-performing investments.

Scales's current ROCE of 7.7% is lower than its ROCE in the past, which was 20%, 3 years ago. So investors might consider if it has had issues recently. You can see in the image below how Scales's ROCE compares to its industry. Click to see more on past growth.

NZSE:SCL Past Revenue and Net Income, September 2nd 2019
NZSE:SCL Past Revenue and Net Income, September 2nd 2019

Remember that this metric is backwards looking - it shows what has happened in the past, and does not accurately predict the future. ROCE can be misleading for companies in cyclical industries, with returns looking impressive during the boom times, but very weak during the busts. This is because ROCE only looks at one year, instead of considering returns across a whole cycle. What happens in the future is pretty important for investors, so we have prepared a free report on analyst forecasts for Scales.

Do Scales's Current Liabilities Skew Its ROCE?

Short term (or current) liabilities, are things like supplier invoices, overdrafts, or tax bills that need to be paid within 12 months. Due to the way ROCE is calculated, a high level of current liabilities makes a company look as though it has less capital employed, and thus can (sometimes unfairly) boost the ROCE. To counter this, investors can check if a company has high current liabilities relative to total assets.

Scales has total liabilities of NZ$110m and total assets of NZ$622m. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 18% of its total assets. It is good to see a restrained amount of current liabilities, as this limits the effect on ROCE.

What We Can Learn From Scales's ROCE

If Scales continues to earn an uninspiring ROCE, there may be better places to invest. You might be able to find a better investment than Scales. If you want a selection of possible winners, check out this free list of interesting companies that trade on a P/E below 20 (but have proven they can grow earnings).

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.