What underlying fundamental trends can indicate that a company might be in decline? A business that's potentially in decline often shows two trends, a return on capital employed (ROCE) that's declining, and a base of capital employed that's also declining. 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. Having said that, after a brief look, Qorvo (NASDAQ:QRVO) we aren't filled with optimism, but let's investigate further.

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. To calculate this metric for Qorvo, this is the formula:

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

0.0056 = US$34m ÷ (US$6.7b - US$672m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Thus, Qorvo has an ROCE of 0.6%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Semiconductor industry average of 11%.

See our latest analysis for Qorvo

In the above chart we have measured Qorvo's 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 Qorvo.

The Trend Of ROCE

There is reason to be cautious about Qorvo, given the returns are trending downwards. About five years ago, returns on capital were 3.4%, however they're now substantially lower than that as we saw above. 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 Qorvo becoming one if things continue as they have.

Our Take On Qorvo's ROCE

In summary, it's unfortunate that Qorvo is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. Yet despite these concerning fundamentals, the stock has performed strongly with a 63% return 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're still interested in Qorvo it's worth checking out our FREE intrinsic value approximation to see if it's trading at an attractive price in other respects.

While Qorvo may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.