There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. One common approach is to try and find a company with returns on capital employed (ROCE) that are increasing, in conjunction with a growing 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. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in i3 Energy's (LON:I3E) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

Understanding 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. To calculate this metric for i3 Energy, this is the formula:

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

0.18 = UK£52m ÷ (UK£324m - UK£44m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

So, i3 Energy has an ROCE of 18%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 11% generated by the Oil and Gas industry.

Check out our latest analysis for i3 Energy

In the above chart we have measured i3 Energy'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

We're delighted to see that i3 Energy is reaping rewards from its investments and is now generating some pre-tax profits. The company was generating losses five years ago, but now it's earning 18% which is a sight for sore eyes. In addition to that, i3 Energy is employing 6,329% more capital than previously which is expected of a company that's 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.

What We Can Learn From i3 Energy's ROCE

Overall, i3 Energy gets a big tick from us thanks in most part to the fact that it is now profitable and is reinvesting in its business. However the stock is down a substantial 80% in the last five years so there could be other areas of the business hurting its prospects. Still, it's worth doing some further research to see if the trends will continue into the future.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for i3 Energy (of which 1 can't be ignored!) that you should know about.