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'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base 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. So when we looked at the ROCE trend of Profile Systems & Software (ATH:PROF) we really liked what we saw.
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 Profile Systems & Software, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.21 = €9.6m ÷ (€74m - €28m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2025).
Thus, Profile Systems & Software has an ROCE of 21%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Software industry average of 15%.
Check out our latest analysis for Profile Systems & Software
Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Profile Systems & Software's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating Profile Systems & Software's past further, check out this free graph covering Profile Systems & Software's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
Profile Systems & Software is displaying some positive trends. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 21%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 82%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.
A company that is growing its returns on capital and can consistently reinvest in itself is a highly sought after trait, and that's what Profile Systems & Software has. And with the stock having performed exceptionally well over the last five years, these patterns are being accounted for by investors. 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.
On the other side of ROCE, we have to consider valuation. That's why we have a FREE intrinsic value estimation for PROF on our platform that is definitely worth checking out.
If you want to search for more stocks that have been earning high returns, check out this free list of stocks with solid balance sheets that are also earning high 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.