If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. 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 Destination XL Group (NASDAQ:DXLG) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Destination XL Group is:

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

0.16 = US$44m ÷ (US$373m - US$101m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2023).

So, Destination XL Group has an ROCE of 16%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Specialty Retail industry average of 14%.

Check out our latest analysis for Destination XL Group

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Destination XL Group 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 Destination XL Group for free.

The Trend Of ROCE

Destination XL Group has recently broken into profitability so their prior investments seem to be paying off. Shareholders would no doubt be pleased with this because the business was loss-making five years ago but is is now generating 16% on its capital. In addition to that, Destination XL Group is employing 116% more capital than previously which is expected of a company that's trying to break into profitability. This can tell us that the company has plenty of reinvestment opportunities that are able to generate higher returns.

One more thing to note, Destination XL Group has decreased current liabilities to 27% of total assets over this period, which effectively reduces the amount of funding from suppliers or short-term creditors. Therefore we can rest assured that the growth in ROCE is a result of the business' fundamental improvements, rather than a cooking class featuring this company's books.

The Bottom Line On Destination XL Group's ROCE

In summary, it's great to see that Destination XL Group has managed to break into profitability and is continuing to reinvest in its business. And investors seem to expect more of this going forward, since the stock has rewarded shareholders with a 49% return over the last five years. Therefore, we think it would be worth your time to check if these trends are going to continue.