If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So on that note, Baltic Classifieds Group (LON:BCG) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

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. The formula for this calculation on Baltic Classifieds Group is:

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

0.099 = €38m ÷ (€400m - €13m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2024).

So, Baltic Classifieds Group has an ROCE of 9.9%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Interactive Media and Services industry average of 22%.

View our latest analysis for Baltic Classifieds Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Baltic Classifieds Group 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 free analyst report for Baltic Classifieds Group .

How Are Returns Trending?

Baltic Classifieds Group's ROCE growth is quite impressive. Looking at the data, we can see that even though capital employed in the business has remained relatively flat, the ROCE generated has risen by 163% over the last three years. Basically the business is generating higher returns from the same amount of capital and that is proof that there are improvements in the company's efficiencies. It's worth looking deeper into this though because while it's great that the business is more efficient, it might also mean that going forward the areas to invest internally for the organic growth are lacking.

Our Take On Baltic Classifieds Group's ROCE

To bring it all together, Baltic Classifieds Group has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. And with a respectable 29% awarded to those who held the stock over the last three years, you could argue that these developments are starting to get the attention they deserve. 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.