If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding 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. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at Bowlero (NYSE:BOWL) so let's look a bit deeper.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Bowlero, this is the formula:

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

0.049 = US$150m ÷ (US$3.2b - US$204m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

Thus, Bowlero has an ROCE of 4.9%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Hospitality industry average of 11%.

See our latest analysis for Bowlero

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Bowlero compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Bowlero .

What Does the ROCE Trend For Bowlero Tell Us?

Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 4.9%. 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 92%. 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.

In Conclusion...

All in all, it's terrific to see that Bowlero is reaping the rewards from prior investments and is growing its capital base. Since the stock has returned a solid 30% to shareholders over the last three years, it's fair to say investors are beginning to recognize these changes. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.

One more thing: We've identified 4 warning signs with Bowlero (at least 1 which is potentially serious) , and understanding these would certainly be useful.