There are a few key trends to look for if we want to identify the next multi-bagger. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So when we looked at Insteel Industries (NYSE:IIIN) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Understanding 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 Insteel Industries is:

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

0.053 = US$20m ÷ (US$423m - US$47m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

Therefore, Insteel Industries has an ROCE of 5.3%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Building industry average of 15%.

In the above chart we have measured Insteel 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 Insteel Industries .

The Trend Of ROCE

We're glad to see that ROCE is heading in the right direction, even if it is still low at the moment. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 5.3%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 42%. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.

The Bottom Line

All in all, it's terrific to see that Insteel Industries is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Since the stock has returned a solid 84% to shareholders over the last five years, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. In light of that, we think it's worth looking further into this stock because if Insteel Industries can keep these trends up, it could have a bright future ahead.

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

While Insteel Industries isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.

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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.