If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. 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. In light of that, when we looked at RF Systems (KOSDAQ:474610) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.
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. To calculate this metric for RF Systems, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.068 = ₩3.8b ÷ (₩77b - ₩21b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).
Thus, RF Systems has an ROCE of 6.8%. Even though it's in line with the industry average of 7.2%, it's still a low return by itself.
Check out our latest analysis for RF Systems
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'd like to look at how RF Systems has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of RF Systems' past earnings, revenue and cash flow.
How Are Returns Trending?
On the surface, the trend of ROCE at RF Systems doesn't inspire confidence. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 6.8% from 30% five years ago. 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. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.
On a related note, RF Systems has decreased its current liabilities to 28% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.
The Bottom Line On RF Systems' ROCE
While returns have fallen for RF Systems 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 24% over the last year, it would appear that investors are upbeat about the future. So while the underlying trends could already be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
If you'd like to know more about RF Systems, we've spotted 2 warning signs, and 1 of them is a bit unpleasant.
While RF Systems isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
Valuation is complex, but we're here to simplify it.
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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.