If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. 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. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So when we looked at Sprinklr (NYSE:CXM) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

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. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Sprinklr:

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

0.02 = US$14m ÷ (US$1.1b - US$399m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2023).

Thus, Sprinklr has an ROCE of 2.0%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Software industry average of 7.7%.

See our latest analysis for Sprinklr

In the above chart we have measured Sprinklr'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.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

The fact that Sprinklr is now generating some pre-tax profits from its prior investments is very encouraging. About three years ago the company was generating losses but things have turned around because it's now earning 2.0% on its capital. Not only that, but the company is utilizing 208% more capital than before, but that's to be expected from a company trying to break into profitability. We like this trend, because it tells us the company has profitable reinvestment opportunities available to it, and if it continues going forward that can lead to a multi-bagger performance.

On a related note, the company's ratio of current liabilities to total assets has decreased to 37%, which basically reduces it's funding from the likes of short-term creditors or suppliers. So shareholders would be pleased that the growth in returns has mostly come from underlying business performance.

The Bottom Line On Sprinklr's ROCE

Long story short, we're delighted to see that Sprinklr's reinvestment activities have paid off and the company is now profitable. Since the stock has returned a solid 37% to shareholders over the last year, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

If you want to continue researching Sprinklr, you might be interested to know about the 3 warning signs that our analysis has discovered.

While Sprinklr 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.