If we're looking to avoid a business that is in decline, what are the trends that can warn us ahead of time? 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. This combination can tell you that not only is the company investing less, it's earning less on what it does invest. So after we looked into Corning (NYSE:GLW), the trends above didn't look too great.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (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 Corning:

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

0.056 = US$1.3b ÷ (US$28b - US$4.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Thus, Corning has an ROCE of 5.6%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Electronic industry average of 12%.

See our latest analysis for Corning

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Corning 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 report on analyst forecasts for the company.

The Trend Of ROCE

There is reason to be cautious about Corning, given the returns are trending downwards. Unfortunately the returns on capital have diminished from the 7.0% that they were earning five years ago. 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. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect Corning to turn into a multi-bagger.

What We Can Learn From Corning's ROCE

All in all, the lower returns from the same amount of capital employed aren't exactly signs of a compounding machine. Investors must expect better things on the horizon though because the stock has risen 1.2% in the last five years. Either way, we aren't huge fans of the current trends and so with that we think you might find better investments elsewhere.

Corning does have some risks, we noticed 4 warning signs (and 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) we think you should know about.

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.