Some Investors May Be Worried About Topicus.com's (CVE:TOI) Returns On Capital

Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Although, when we looked at Topicus.com (CVE:TOI), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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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 Topicus.com is:

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

0.16 = €225m ÷ (€2.4b - €1.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).

So, Topicus.com has an ROCE of 16%. On its own, that's a standard return, however it's much better than the 13% generated by the Software industry.

See our latest analysis for Topicus.com

In the above chart we have measured Topicus.com's 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 Topicus.com .

What Can We Tell From Topicus.com's ROCE Trend?

In terms of Topicus.com's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 21%, but since then they've fallen to 16%. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

On a side note, Topicus.com's current liabilities have increased over the last five years to 43% of total assets, effectively distorting the ROCE to some degree. If current liabilities hadn't increased as much as they did, the ROCE could actually be even lower. What this means is that in reality, a rather large portion of the business is being funded by the likes of the company's suppliers or short-term creditors, which can bring some risks of its own.

In Conclusion...

While returns have fallen for Topicus.com in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. Furthermore the stock has climbed 86% over the last three years, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So should these growth trends continue, we'd be optimistic on the stock going forward.

One more thing, we've spotted 3 warning signs facing Topicus.com that you might find interesting.

While Topicus.com 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.