If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base 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. Although, when we looked at Cricut (NASDAQ:CRCT), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

Understanding 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. To calculate this metric for Cricut, this is the formula:

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

0.18 = US$90m ÷ (US$664m - US$171m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

Therefore, Cricut has an ROCE of 18%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 14% generated by the Consumer Durables industry.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Cricut 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 Cricut for free.

So How Is Cricut's ROCE Trending?

In terms of Cricut's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 18% from 39% five years ago. However it looks like Cricut might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.

On a related note, Cricut has decreased its current liabilities to 26% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. 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.

What We Can Learn From Cricut's ROCE

Bringing it all together, while we're somewhat encouraged by Cricut's reinvestment in its own business, we're aware that returns are shrinking. And investors may be expecting the fundamentals to get a lot worse because the stock has crashed 71% over the last three years. Therefore based on the analysis done in this article, we don't think Cricut has the makings of a multi-bagger.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Cricut (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should know about.

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.