ASX:ENE Past Revenue and Net Income, September 2nd 2019
Remember that this metric is backwards looking - it shows what has happened in the past, and does not accurately predict the future. ROCE can be deceptive for cyclical businesses, as returns can look incredible in boom times, and terribly low in downturns. ROCE is, after all, simply a snap shot of a single year. How cyclical is Enevis? You can see for yourself by looking at this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What Are Current Liabilities, And How Do They Affect Enevis's ROCE?
Short term (or current) liabilities, are things like supplier invoices, overdrafts, or tax bills that need to be paid within 12 months. The ROCE equation subtracts current liabilities from capital employed, so a company with a lot of current liabilities appears to have less capital employed, and a higher ROCE than otherwise. To counteract this, we check if a company has high current liabilities, relative to its total assets.
Enevis has total assets of AU$17m and current liabilities of AU$12m. As a result, its current liabilities are equal to approximately 70% of its total assets. Enevis's current liabilities are fairly high, which increases its ROCE significantly.
Our Take On Enevis's ROCE
The ROCE would not look as appealing if the company had fewer current liabilities. There might be better investments than Enevis out there, but you will have to work hard to find them . These promising businesses with rapidly growing earnings might be right up your alley.
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
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