What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Although, when we looked at Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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 Itron is:

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

0.086 = US$236m ÷ (US$3.3b - US$535m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

So, Itron has an ROCE of 8.6%. On its own, that's a low figure but it's around the 10.0% average generated by the Electronic industry.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Itron 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 analyst report for Itron .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

There are better returns on capital out there than what we're seeing at Itron. The company has employed 35% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 8.6%. This poor ROCE doesn't inspire confidence right now, and with the increase in capital employed, it's evident that the business isn't deploying the funds into high return investments.

The Key Takeaway

As we've seen above, Itron's returns on capital haven't increased but it is reinvesting in the business. Since the stock has gained an impressive 44% over the last five years, investors must think there's better things to come. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

Itron could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation for ITRI on our platform quite valuable.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive 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.