If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. 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. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. Speaking of which, we noticed some great changes in Wilhelmina International's (NASDAQ:WHLM) returns on capital, so let's have a look.

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. To calculate this metric for Wilhelmina International, this is the formula:

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

0.03 = US$883k ÷ (US$41m - US$12m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Thus, Wilhelmina International has an ROCE of 3.0%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Commercial Services industry average of 8.8%.

View our latest analysis for Wilhelmina International

While the past is not representative of the future, it can be helpful to know how a company has performed historically, which is why we have this chart above. If you'd like to look at how Wilhelmina International has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

The Trend Of ROCE

While the ROCE isn't as high as some other companies out there, it's great to see it's on the up. More specifically, while the company has kept capital employed relatively flat over the last five years, the ROCE has climbed 112% in that same time. So it's likely that the business is now reaping the full benefits of its past investments, since the capital employed hasn't changed considerably. On that front, things are looking good so it's worth exploring what management has said about growth plans going forward.

Our Take On Wilhelmina International's ROCE

To bring it all together, Wilhelmina International has done well to increase the returns it's generating from its capital employed. Astute investors may have an opportunity here because the stock has declined 25% in the last five years. That being the case, research into the company's current valuation metrics and future prospects seems fitting.