American Water Works Company's (NYSE:AWK) Returns Have Hit A Wall
American Water Works Company's (NYSE:AWK) Returns Have Hit A Wall
There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Although, when we looked at American Water Works Company (NYSE:AWK), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.
如果我们想确定下一款多袋机，有一些关键的趋势需要考虑。在一个完美的世界中，我们希望看到一家公司向其业务投入更多资本，理想情况下，从这些资本中获得的回报也在增加。如果你看到这一点，这通常意味着它是一家拥有良好商业模式和大量盈利再投资机会的公司。但是，当我们查看美国自来水公司（纽约证券交易所代码：AWK）时，它似乎并没有勾选所有这些方框。
Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)
了解资本使用回报率 (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 American Water Works Company:
如果你以前没有与ROCE合作过，它会衡量公司从其业务中使用的资本中产生的 “回报”（税前利润）。分析师使用这个公式来计算美国自来水公司的利润：
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
已动用资本回报率 = 息税前收益 (EBIT) ¥（总资产-流动负债）
0.055 = US$1.5b ÷ (US$30b - US$2.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
0.055 = 15亿美元 ÷（300亿美元-22亿美元） （基于截至2023年12月的过去十二个月）。
So, American Water Works Company has an ROCE of 5.5%. In absolute terms, that's a low return, but it's much better than the Water Utilities industry average of 4.1%.
因此，美国自来水公司的投资回报率为5.5％。从绝对值来看，回报率很低，但比自来水公用事业行业平均水平的4.1％要好得多。
In the above chart we have measured American Water Works Company'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 analyst report for American Water Works Company .
在上图中，我们将美国自来水公司先前的投资回报率与之前的业绩进行了对比，但可以说，未来更为重要。如果你想了解分析师对未来的预测，你应该查看我们的美国自来水公司的免费分析师报告。
How Are Returns Trending?
退货趋势如何？
The returns on capital haven't changed much for American Water Works Company in recent years. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 5.5% and the business has deployed 47% more capital into its operations. This poor ROCE doesn't inspire confidence right now, and with the increase in capital employed, it's evident that the business isn't deploying the funds into high return investments.
近年来，美国自来水公司的资本回报率没有太大变化。在过去的五年中，投资回报率一直相对持平，约为5.5％，该业务在运营中投入的资金增加了47％。这种糟糕的投资回报率目前并不能激发信心，随着所用资本的增加，很明显，该企业没有将资金部署到高回报的投资中。
The Bottom Line On American Water Works Company's ROCE
美国自来水公司投资回报率的底线
Long story short, while American Water Works Company has been reinvesting its capital, the returns that it's generating haven't increased. And investors may be recognizing these trends since the stock has only returned a total of 25% to shareholders over the last five years. So if you're looking for a multi-bagger, the underlying trends indicate you may have better chances elsewhere.
长话短说，尽管美国自来水公司一直在对其资本进行再投资，但其产生的回报并未增加。投资者可能会意识到这些趋势，因为在过去五年中，该股总共只给股东带来了25％的回报。因此，如果你正在寻找一款多袋装车，潜在的趋势表明你在其他地方的机会可能更大。
American Water Works Company does have some risks, we noticed 2 warning signs (and 1 which is potentially serious) we think you should know about.
美国自来水公司确实存在一些风险，我们注意到两个警告信号（其中一个可能很严重），我们认为你应该知道。
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.
如果你想寻找收益丰厚的稳健公司，可以免费查看这份资产负债表良好且股本回报率可观的公司名单。
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