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. 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Having said that, from a first glance at Bloomsbury Publishing (LON:BMY) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

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. To calculate this metric for Bloomsbury Publishing, this is the formula:

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

0.099 = UK£18m ÷ (UK£259m - UK£77m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to February 2021).

Thus, Bloomsbury Publishing has an ROCE of 9.9%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 9.9%, it's still a low return by itself.

Check out our latest analysis for Bloomsbury Publishing

In the above chart we have measured Bloomsbury Publishing's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Bloomsbury Publishing.

What Can We Tell From Bloomsbury Publishing's ROCE Trend?

The returns on capital haven't changed much for Bloomsbury Publishing in recent years. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 9.9% and the business has deployed 33% more capital into its operations. Given the company has increased the amount of capital employed, it appears the investments that have been made simply don't provide a high return on capital.

What We Can Learn From Bloomsbury Publishing's ROCE

In summary, Bloomsbury Publishing has simply been reinvesting capital and generating the same low rate of return as before. Yet to long term shareholders the stock has gifted them an incredible 159% return in the last five years, so the market appears to be rosy about its future. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

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