MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) Has More To Do To Multiply In Value Going Forward

Simply Wall St
·2 min read

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Having said that, from a first glance at MGE Energy (NASDAQ:MGEE) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What is it?

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. To calculate this metric for MGE Energy, this is the formula:

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

0.063 = US$132m ÷ (US$2.3b - US$184m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

Thus, MGE Energy has an ROCE of 6.3%. On its own that's a low return, but compared to the average of 4.6% generated by the Electric Utilities industry, it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for MGE Energy

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In the above chart we have measured MGE Energy's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. 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 are better returns on capital out there than what we're seeing at MGE Energy. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 6.3% and the business has deployed 29% 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.

The Key Takeaway

Long story short, while MGE Energy has been reinvesting its capital, the returns that it's generating haven't increased. Since the stock has gained an impressive 52% over the last five years, investors must think there's better things to come. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

On a final note, we've found 1 warning sign for MGE Energy that we think you should be aware of.

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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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