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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. In light of that, when we looked at iRay Technology (SHSE:688301) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

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 iRay Technology is:

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

0.13 = CN¥432m ÷ (CN¥3.7b - CN¥488m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).

Thus, iRay Technology has an ROCE of 13%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Medical Equipment industry average of 11% it's much better.

Check out our latest analysis for iRay Technology

In the above chart we have measured iRay Technology's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for iRay Technology.

The Trend Of ROCE

In terms of iRay Technology's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 24% over the last five years. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

On a side note, iRay Technology has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 13% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

The Bottom Line On iRay Technology's ROCE

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that iRay Technology is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. Furthermore the stock has climbed 59% over the last year, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So should these growth trends continue, we'd be optimistic on the stock going forward.

One final note, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with iRay Technology (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant) .

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.