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. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So, when we ran our eye over Toromont Industries' (TSE:TIH) trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Toromont Industries is:

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

0.20 = CA$704m ÷ (CA$4.6b - CA$1.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

Therefore, Toromont Industries has an ROCE of 20%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 14% earned by companies in a similar industry.

View our latest analysis for Toromont Industries

In the above chart we have measured Toromont Industries' 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 analyst report for Toromont Industries .

How Are Returns Trending?

It's hard not to be impressed by Toromont Industries' returns on capital. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 20% and the business has deployed 66% more capital into its operations. Returns like this are the envy of most businesses and given it has repeatedly reinvested at these rates, that's even better. If Toromont Industries can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.

On a side note, Toromont Industries has done well to reduce current liabilities to 23% of total assets over the last five years. Effectively suppliers now fund less of the business, which can lower some elements of risk.

The Bottom Line

In summary, we're delighted to see that Toromont Industries has been compounding returns by reinvesting at consistently high rates of return, as these are common traits of a multi-bagger. And long term investors would be thrilled with the 100% return they've received over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.

On the other side of ROCE, we have to consider valuation. That's why we have a FREE intrinsic value estimation for TIH on our platform that is definitely worth checking out.