If you’re looking for a multi-bagger, there’s a few things to keep an eye out for. In a perfect world, we’d like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Although, when we looked at Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA), it didn’t seem to tick all of these boxes.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?
For those who don’t know, ROCE is a measure of a company’s yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Ormat Technologies, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed=Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets – Current Liabilities)
0.042=US$162m ÷ (US$4.4b – US$544m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).
So, Ormat Technologies has an ROCE of 4.2%. On its own that’s a low return, but compared to the average of 2.8% generated by the Renewable Energy industry, it’s much better.
View our latest analysis for Ormat Technologies
roce
In the above chart we have measured Ormat Technologies’ prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you’d like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Ormat Technologies.
How Are Returns Trending?
When we looked at the ROCE trend at Ormat Technologies, we didn’t gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 9.4%, but since then they’ve fallen to 4.2%. However it looks like Ormat Technologies might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company’s sales haven’t changed much in the last 12 months. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.
In Conclusion…
Bringing it all together, while we’re somewhat encouraged by Ormat Technologies’ reinvestment in its own business, we’re aware that returns are shrinking. Although the market must be expecting these trends to improve because the stock has gained 43% over the last five years. But if the trajectory of these underlying trends continue, we think the likelihood of it being a multi-bagger from here isn’t high.
On a final note, we’ve found 1 warning sign for Ormat Technologies that we think you should be aware of.
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.
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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.
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