To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Although, when we looked at NEXTDC (ASX:NXT), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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 NEXTDC, this is the formula:

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

0.017 = AU$53m ÷ (AU$3.2b - AU$83m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

Thus, NEXTDC has an ROCE of 1.7%.  Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the IT industry average of 19%.

View our latest analysis for NEXTDC  roce

Above you can see how the current ROCE for NEXTDC 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 freereport for NEXTDC.

So How Is NEXTDC's ROCE Trending?

When we looked at the ROCE trend at NEXTDC, we didn't gain much confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 1.7% from 3.9% five years ago. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

The Key Takeaway

While returns have fallen for NEXTDC in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 58% to shareholders over the last five years. So while the underlying trends could already be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.



One more thing to note, we've identified  1 warning sign  with NEXTDC and understanding it should be part of your investment process.

While NEXTDC 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 freelist here.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

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