If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to 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. So on that note, ZoomerMedia (CVE:ZUM) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. The formula for this calculation on ZoomerMedia is:

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

0.0088 = CA$801k ÷ (CA$108m - CA$16m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to November 2023).

Thus, ZoomerMedia has an ROCE of 0.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Media industry average of 8.4%.

Check out our latest analysis for ZoomerMedia

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you're interested in investigating ZoomerMedia's past further, check out this free graph covering ZoomerMedia's past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

How Are Returns Trending?

The fact that ZoomerMedia is now generating some pre-tax profits from its prior investments is very encouraging. About five years ago the company was generating losses but things have turned around because it's now earning 0.9% on its capital. Not only that, but the company is utilizing 118% more capital than before, but that's to be expected from a company trying to break into profitability. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, both common traits of a multi-bagger.

The Key Takeaway

Overall, ZoomerMedia gets a big tick from us thanks in most part to the fact that it is now profitable and is reinvesting in its business. Since the stock has returned a solid 45% to shareholders over the last five years, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if ZoomerMedia can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 5 warning signs for ZoomerMedia (of which 2 are concerning!) that you should know about.