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. 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, we've noticed some promising trends at Shenzhen Rapoo Technology (SZSE:002577) so let's look a bit deeper.

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 Shenzhen Rapoo Technology:

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

0.003 = CN¥3.5m ÷ (CN¥1.2b - CN¥69m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

So, Shenzhen Rapoo Technology has an ROCE of 0.3%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Tech industry average of 5.0%.

Check out our latest analysis for Shenzhen Rapoo Technology

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you're interested in investigating Shenzhen Rapoo Technology's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

So How Is Shenzhen Rapoo Technology's ROCE Trending?

Shenzhen Rapoo Technology has broken into the black (profitability) and we're sure it's a sight for sore eyes. While the business was unprofitable in the past, it's now turned things around and is earning 0.3% on its capital. Interestingly, the capital employed by the business has remained relatively flat, so these higher returns are either from prior investments paying off or increased efficiencies. So while we're happy that the business is more efficient, just keep in mind that could mean that going forward the business is lacking areas to invest internally for growth. So if you're looking for high growth, you'll want to see a business's capital employed also increasing.

The Bottom Line

To sum it up, Shenzhen Rapoo Technology is collecting higher returns from the same amount of capital, and that's impressive. Since the stock has returned a solid 67% to shareholders over the last five years, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.

One final note, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Shenzhen Rapoo Technology (including 1 which is a bit concerning) .

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.

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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.