money These Metrics Don't Make Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW) Look Too Strong
When researching a stock for investment, what can tell us that the company is in decline? A business that's potentially in decline often shows two trends, a return on capital employed (ROCE) that's declining, and a base of capital employed that's also declining. Ultimately this means that the company is earning less per dollar invested and on top of that, it's shrinking its base of capital employed. And from a first read, things don't look too good at Matthews International (NASDAQ:MATW), so let's see why.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?
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 Matthews International is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.034 = US$61m ÷ (US$2.1b - US$305m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).
Therefore, Matthews International has an ROCE of 3.4%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Commercial Services industry average of 9.8%.
Check out our latest analysis for Matthews International
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Matthews International compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Matthews International.
What Can We Tell From Matthews International's ROCE Trend?
There is reason to be cautious about Matthews International, given the returns are trending downwards. Unfortunately the returns on capital have diminished from the 6.4% that they were earning five years ago. Meanwhile, capital employed in the business has stayed roughly the flat over the period. Companies that exhibit these attributes tend to not be shrinking, but they can be mature and facing pressure on their margins from competition. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect Matthews International to turn into a multi-bagger.
The Bottom Line On Matthews International's ROCE
In the end, the trend of lower returns on the same amount of capital isn't typically an indication that we're looking at a growth stock. Long term shareholders who've owned the stock over the last five years have experienced a 53% depreciation in their investment, so it appears the market might not like these trends either. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere.
Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Matthews International (of which 1 is concerning!) that you should know about.
While Matthews International may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.
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. 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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