What financial metrics can indicate to us that a company is maturing or even in decline? More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. This combination can tell you that not only is the company investing less, it's earning less on what it does invest. And from a first read, things don't look too good at Genting Singapore (SGX:G13), so let's see why.

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 Genting Singapore:

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

0.077 = S$649m ÷ (S$9.1b - S$759m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

So, Genting Singapore has an ROCE of 7.7%. On its own that's a low return, but compared to the average of 4.6% generated by the Hospitality industry, it's much better.

See our latest analysis for Genting Singapore

In the above chart we have measured Genting Singapore'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 Genting Singapore .

So How Is Genting Singapore's ROCE Trending?

We are a bit worried about the trend of returns on capital at Genting Singapore. Unfortunately the returns on capital have diminished from the 10% 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. Since returns are falling and the business has the same amount of assets employed, this can suggest it's a mature business that hasn't had much growth in the last five years. If these trends continue, we wouldn't expect Genting Singapore to turn into a multi-bagger.

The Key Takeaway

In the end, the trend of lower returns on the same amount of capital isn't typically an indication that we're looking at a growth stock. Despite the concerning underlying trends, the stock has actually gained 6.5% over the last five years, so it might be that the investors are expecting the trends to reverse. Regardless, we don't like the trends as they are and if they persist, we think you might find better investments elsewhere.

One more thing to note, we've identified 1 warning sign with Genting Singapore and understanding it should be part of your investment process.