If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. However, after investigating TA (SGX:PA3), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for TA:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.02 = S$6.5m ÷ (S$763m - S$436m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
Thus, TA has an ROCE of 2.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Construction industry average of 3.6%.
See our latest analysis for TA
While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you want to delve into the historical earnings, revenue and cash flow of TA, check out these free graphs here.
The Trend Of ROCE
Over the past five years, TA's ROCE has remained relatively flat while the business is using 25% less capital than before. To us that doesn't look like a multi-bagger because the company appears to be selling assets and it's returns aren't increasing. Not only that, but the low returns on this capital mentioned earlier would leave most investors unimpressed.
Another point to note, we noticed the company has increased current liabilities over the last five years. This is intriguing because if current liabilities hadn't increased to 57% of total assets, this reported ROCE would probably be less than2.0% because total capital employed would be higher.The 2.0% ROCE could be even lower if current liabilities weren't 57% of total assets, because the the formula would show a larger base of total capital employed. So with current liabilities at such high levels, this effectively means the likes of suppliers or short-term creditors are funding a meaningful part of the business, which in some instances can bring some risks.
The Key Takeaway
In summary, TA isn't reinvesting funds back into the business and returns aren't growing. Moreover, since the stock has crumbled 71% over the last five years, it appears investors are expecting the worst. All in all, the inherent trends aren't typical of multi-baggers, so if that's what you're after, we think you might have more luck elsewhere.
Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for TA (of which 2 can't be ignored!) that you should know about.
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.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You'll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
