Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. That's why when we briefly looked at Skechers U.S.A's (NYSE:SKX) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.

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 Skechers U.S.A is:

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

0.14 = US$852m ÷ (US$8.0b - US$2.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

Thus, Skechers U.S.A has an ROCE of 14%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Luxury industry average of 13%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Skechers U.S.A compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Skechers U.S.A .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

While the current returns on capital are decent, they haven't changed much. The company has employed 73% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 14%. 14% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Skechers U.S.A has consistently earned this amount. Over long periods of time, returns like these might not be too exciting, but with consistency they can pay off in terms of share price returns.

The Bottom Line On Skechers U.S.A's ROCE

In the end, Skechers U.S.A has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. And since the stock has risen strongly over the last five years, it appears the market might expect this trend to continue. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

Skechers U.S.A could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation for SKX 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.

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