Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount 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. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think ZoomInfo Technologies (NASDAQ:ZI) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

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 ZoomInfo Technologies is:

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

0.039 = US$253m ÷ (US$7.1b - US$573m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

Therefore, ZoomInfo Technologies has an ROCE of 3.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Interactive Media and Services industry average of 9.0%.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for ZoomInfo Technologies 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 report for ZoomInfo Technologies.

The Trend Of ROCE

In terms of ZoomInfo Technologies' historical ROCE trend, it doesn't exactly demand attention. Over the past four years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 3.9% and the business has deployed 396% more capital into its operations. This poor ROCE doesn't inspire confidence right now, and with the increase in capital employed, it's evident that the business isn't deploying the funds into high return investments.

What We Can Learn From ZoomInfo Technologies' ROCE

In conclusion, ZoomInfo Technologies has been investing more capital into the business, but returns on that capital haven't increased. It seems that investors have little hope of these trends getting any better and that may have partly contributed to the stock collapsing 73% in the last three years. On the whole, we aren't too inspired by the underlying trends and we think there may be better chances of finding a multi-bagger elsewhere.

One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing ZoomInfo Technologies that you might find interesting.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive 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.