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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at MIND Technology (NASDAQ:MIND) so let's look a bit deeper.

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. The formula for this calculation on MIND Technology is:

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

0.14 = US$5.6m ÷ (US$47m - US$6.8m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2025).

Therefore, MIND Technology has an ROCE of 14%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 8.3% generated by the Energy Services industry.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for MIND Technology compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for MIND Technology .

What Does the ROCE Trend For MIND Technology Tell Us?

Shareholders will be relieved that MIND Technology has broken into profitability. The company was generating losses five years ago, but has managed to turn it around and as we saw earlier is now earning 14%, which is always encouraging. On top of that, what's interesting is that the amount of capital being employed has remained steady, so the business hasn't needed to put any additional money to work to generate these higher returns. With no noticeable increase in capital employed, it's worth knowing what the company plans on doing going forward in regards to reinvesting and growing the business. So if you're looking for high growth, you'll want to see a business's capital employed also increasing.

The Bottom Line On MIND Technology's ROCE

To bring it all together, MIND Technology 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 53% in the last five years. With that in mind, we believe the promising trends warrant this stock for further investigation.

One more thing to note, we've identified 3 warning signs with MIND Technology and understanding these should be part of your investment process.

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.