What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. That's why when we briefly looked at Bechtle's (ETR:BC8) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.

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

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on Bechtle is:

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

0.15 = €374m ÷ (€3.7b - €1.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

So, Bechtle has an ROCE of 15%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the IT industry average of 8.1% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for Bechtle

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Bechtle compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Bechtle for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

While the returns on capital are good, they haven't moved much. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 15% and the business has deployed 75% more capital into its operations. Since 15% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Over long periods of time, returns like these might not be too exciting, but with consistency they can pay off in terms of share price returns.

What We Can Learn From Bechtle's ROCE

The main thing to remember is that Bechtle has proven its ability to continually reinvest at respectable rates of return. However, over the last five years, the stock has only delivered a 29% return to shareholders who held over that period. So because of the trends we're seeing, we'd recommend looking further into this stock to see if it has the makings of a multi-bagger.

If you're still interested in Bechtle it's worth checking out our FREE intrinsic value approximation for BC8 to see if it's trading at an attractive price in other respects.

For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and 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.