To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. In light of that, when we looked at Enfusion (NYSE:ENFN) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.
Understanding 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 Enfusion:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.13 = US$11m ÷ (US$102m - US$16m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).
Therefore, Enfusion has an ROCE of 13%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Software industry average of 7.7% it's much better.
See our latest analysis for Enfusion
Above you can see how the current ROCE for Enfusion 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 Enfusion here for free.
What Does the ROCE Trend For Enfusion Tell Us?
Unfortunately, the trend isn't great with ROCE falling from 32% three years ago, while capital employed has grown 240%. That being said, Enfusion raised some capital prior to their latest results being released, so that could partly explain the increase in capital employed. The funds raised likely haven't been put to work yet so it's worth watching what happens in the future with Enfusion's earnings and if they change as a result from the capital raise.
On a related note, Enfusion has decreased its current liabilities to 16% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.
In Conclusion...
While returns have fallen for Enfusion in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. These growth trends haven't led to growth returns though, since the stock has fallen 17% over the last year. So we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the trends look encouraging.
One more thing to note, we've identified 2 warning signs with Enfusion and understanding these should be part of your investment process.
For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high 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.