If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. With that in mind, the ROCE of Masterflex (ETR:MZX) looks decent, right now, so lets see what the trend of returns can tell us.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

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 Masterflex:

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

0.12 = €9.4m ÷ (€94m - €14m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).

So, Masterflex has an ROCE of 12%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 8.8% generated by the Machinery industry.

Check out our latest analysis for Masterflex

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Masterflex compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

What Can We Tell From Masterflex's ROCE Trend?

The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. The company has employed 37% more capital in the last five years, and the returns on that capital have remained stable at 12%. 12% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that Masterflex has consistently earned this amount. Over long periods of time, returns like these might not be too exciting, but with consistency they can pay off in terms of share price returns.

The Bottom Line On Masterflex's ROCE

To sum it up, Masterflex has simply been reinvesting capital steadily, at those decent rates of return. However, over the last five years, the stock has only delivered a 3.8% return to shareholders who held over that period. That's why it could be worth your time looking into this stock further to discover if it has more traits of a multi-bagger.

One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing Masterflex that you might find interesting.

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.