What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, 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 E2E Networks (NSE:E2E) so let's look a bit deeper.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for E2E Networks, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.0018 = ₹31m ÷ (₹26b - ₹9.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2025).
Thus, E2E Networks has an ROCE of 0.2%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the IT industry average of 17%.
Check out our latest analysis for E2E Networks
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 want to delve into the historical earnings , check out these free graphs detailing revenue and cash flow performance of E2E Networks.
What Can We Tell From E2E Networks' ROCE Trend?
E2E Networks 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 0.2% on its capital. And unsurprisingly, like most companies trying to break into the black, E2E Networks is utilizing 6,535% more capital than it was five years ago. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, both common traits of a multi-bagger.
For the record though, there was a noticeable increase in the company's current liabilities over the period, so we would attribute some of the ROCE growth to that. Effectively this means that suppliers or short-term creditors are now funding 35% of the business, which is more than it was five years ago. Keep an eye out for future increases because when the ratio of current liabilities to total assets gets particularly high, this can introduce some new risks for the business.
What We Can Learn From E2E Networks' ROCE
To the delight of most shareholders, E2E Networks has now broken into profitability. And a remarkable 9,964% total return over the last five years tells us that investors are expecting more good things to come in the future. With that being said, we still think the promising fundamentals mean the company deserves some further due diligence.
Like most companies, E2E Networks does come with some risks, and we've found 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.
If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.
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About NSEI:E2E
E2E Networks
Provides cloud computing services in India.
Adequate balance sheet with low risk.