Yahoo Finance Why We Like The Returns At Grand Canyon Education (NASDAQ:LOPE)
What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. And in light of that, the trends we're seeing at Grand Canyon Education's (NASDAQ:LOPE) look very promising so lets take a look.
Understanding 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. To calculate this metric for Grand Canyon Education, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.35 = US$275m ÷ (US$918m - US$133m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
Thus, Grand Canyon Education has an ROCE of 35%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Consumer Services industry average of 6.3%.
Check out our latest analysis for Grand Canyon Education
In the above chart we have measured Grand Canyon Education's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Grand Canyon Education here for free.
The Trend Of ROCE
Grand Canyon Education's ROCE growth is quite impressive. Looking at the data, we can see that even though capital employed in the business has remained relatively flat, the ROCE generated has risen by 30% over the last five years. So it's likely that the business is now reaping the full benefits of its past investments, since the capital employed hasn't changed considerably. On that front, things are looking good so it's worth exploring what management has said about growth plans going forward.
The Bottom Line On Grand Canyon Education's ROCE
To sum it up, Grand Canyon Education is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. Investors may not be impressed by the favorable underlying trends yet because over the last five years the stock has only returned 13% to shareholders. So with that in mind, we think the stock deserves further research.
Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Grand Canyon Education (of which 1 is concerning!) that you should know about.
Grand Canyon Education is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.
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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.
