Infosys (NSE:INFY) Might Become A Compounding Machine

Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. Firstly, we'll want to see a proven return on capital employed (ROCE) that is increasing, and secondly, an expanding base of capital employed. If you see this, it typically means it's a company with a great business model and plenty of profitable reinvestment opportunities. That's why when we briefly looked at Infosys' (NSE:INFY) ROCE trend, we were very happy with what we saw.

What is 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. To calculate this metric for Infosys, this is the formula:

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

0.29 = US$3.3b ÷ (US$15b - US$3.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

Thus, Infosys has an ROCE of 29%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the IT industry average of 11%.

Check out our latest analysis for Infosys

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Infosys 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 report on analyst forecasts for the company.

So How Is Infosys' ROCE Trending?

In terms of Infosys' history of ROCE, it's quite impressive. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 29% and the business has deployed 23% more capital into its operations. Returns like this are the envy of most businesses and given it has repeatedly reinvested at these rates, that's even better. If these trends can continue, it wouldn't surprise us if the company became a multi-bagger.

The Bottom Line On Infosys' ROCE

Infosys has demonstrated its proficiency by generating high returns on increasing amounts of capital employed, which we're thrilled about. And the stock has done incredibly well with a 179% return over the last five years, so long term investors are no doubt ecstatic with that result. So even though the stock might be more "expensive" than it was before, we think the strong fundamentals warrant this stock for further research.

If you want to continue researching Infosys, you might be interested to know about the 2 warning signs that our analysis has discovered.

Infosys is not the only stock earning high returns. If you'd like to see more, check out our free list of companies earning high returns on equity with solid fundamentals.

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