If you're looking at a mature business that's past the growth phase, what are some of the underlying trends that pop up? When we see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) in conjunction with a declining base of capital employed, that's often how a mature business shows signs of aging. 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 C.H. Robinson Worldwide (NASDAQ:CHRW), so let's see why.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on C.H. Robinson Worldwide is:

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

0.17 = US$532m ÷ (US$5.2b - US$2.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Therefore, C.H. Robinson Worldwide has an ROCE of 17%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Logistics industry average of 12% it's much better.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for C.H. Robinson Worldwide 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 C.H. Robinson Worldwide .

So How Is C.H. Robinson Worldwide's ROCE Trending?

There is reason to be cautious about C.H. Robinson Worldwide, given the returns are trending downwards. To be more specific, the ROCE was 30% five years ago, but since then it has dropped noticeably. And on the capital employed front, the business is utilizing roughly the same amount of capital as it was back then. This combination can be indicative of a mature business that still has areas to deploy capital, but the returns received aren't as high due potentially to new competition or smaller margins. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on C.H. Robinson Worldwide becoming one if things continue as they have.

What We Can Learn From C.H. Robinson Worldwide's ROCE

All in all, the lower returns from the same amount of capital employed aren't exactly signs of a compounding machine. And, the stock has remained flat over the last five years, so investors don't seem too impressed either. With underlying trends that aren't great in these areas, we'd consider looking elsewhere.

If you want to continue researching C.H. Robinson Worldwide, you might be interested to know about the 2 warning signs that our analysis has discovered.

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.