Slowing Rates Of Return At Canadian National Railway (TSE:CNR) Leave Little Room For Excitement

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. With that in mind, the ROCE of Canadian National Railway (TSE:CNR) looks decent, right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

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

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Canadian National Railway, this is the formula:

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

0.15 = CA$6.6b ÷ (CA$48b - CA$3.8b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).

Thus, Canadian National Railway has an ROCE of 15%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Transportation industry average of 10% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Canadian National Railway

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Canadian National Railway 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 Canadian National Railway.

How Are Returns Trending?

The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 15% and the business has deployed 30% more capital into its operations. Since 15% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Stable returns in this ballpark can be unexciting, but if they can be maintained over the long run, they often provide nice rewards to shareholders.

The Bottom Line On Canadian National Railway's ROCE

The main thing to remember is that Canadian National Railway has proven its ability to continually reinvest at respectable rates of return. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 51% to shareholders over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

Like most companies, Canadian National Railway does come with some risks, and we've found 2 warning signs that you should be aware of.

While Canadian National Railway may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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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.