Ignoring the stock price of a company, what are the underlying trends that tell us a business is past the growth phase? Businesses in decline often have two underlying trends, firstly, a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining base of capital employed. This indicates the company is producing less profit from its investments and its total assets are decreasing. Having said that, after a brief look, United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) we aren't filled with optimism, but let's investigate further.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for United Natural Foods:

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

0.028 = US$147m ÷ (US$7.5b - US$2.4b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to August 2024).

Therefore, United Natural Foods has an ROCE of 2.8%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Consumer Retailing industry average of 9.8%.

In the above chart we have measured United Natural Foods' 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 United Natural Foods for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

There is reason to be cautious about United Natural Foods, given the returns are trending downwards. About five years ago, returns on capital were 5.5%, however they're now substantially lower than that as we saw above. On top of that, it's worth noting that the amount of capital employed within the business has remained relatively steady. Companies that exhibit these attributes tend to not be shrinking, but they can be mature and facing pressure on their margins from competition. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on United Natural Foods becoming one if things continue as they have.

In Conclusion...

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. Yet despite these poor fundamentals, the stock has gained a huge 179% over the last five years, so investors appear very optimistic. In any case, the current underlying trends don't bode well for long term performance so unless they reverse, we'd start looking elsewhere.

If you'd like to know more about United Natural Foods, we've spotted 2 warning signs, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable.

While United Natural Foods isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.