If we want to find a stock that could multiply over the long term, what are the underlying trends we should look for? 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. With that in mind, the ROCE of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) looks decent, right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.
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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Amazon.com:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets – Current Liabilities)
0.13 = US$47b ÷ (US$531b – US$153b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).
Thus, Amazon.com has an ROCE of 13%. In absolute terms, that’s a pretty normal return, and it’s somewhat close to the Multiline Retail industry average of 11%.
See our latest analysis for Amazon.com
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Amazon.com compares to its prior returns on capital, but there’s only so much you can tell from the past. If you’d like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Amazon.com for free.
The Trend Of ROCE
While the current returns on capital are decent, they haven’t changed much. The company has consistently earned 13% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 230% in that time. Since 13% is a moderate ROCE though, it’s good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. 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
To sum it up, Amazon.com has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. On top of that, the stock has rewarded shareholders with a remarkable 104% return to those who’ve held over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
While Amazon.com doesn’t shine too bright in this respect, it’s still worth seeing if the company is trading at attractive prices. You can find that out with our FREE intrinsic value estimation for AMZN on our platform.
While Amazon.com 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.
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