The Trends At Dollar General (NYSE:DG) That You Should Know About

Simply Wall St
·3 min read

If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. Although, when we looked at Dollar General (NYSE:DG), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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. The formula for this calculation on Dollar General is:

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

0.13 = US$2.7b ÷ (US$25b - US$4.8b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to May 2020).

So, Dollar General has an ROCE of 13%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 11% generated by the Multiline Retail industry.

See our latest analysis for Dollar General

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Above you can see how the current ROCE for Dollar General compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Dollar General.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Dollar General doesn't inspire confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 21%, but since then they've fallen to 13%. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

The Bottom Line

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Dollar General is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 155% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So should these growth trends continue, we'd be optimistic on the stock going forward.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing Dollar General, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

While Dollar General isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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