What are the early trends we should look for to identify a stock that could multiply in value over the long term? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. 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 Linkgenesis (KOSDAQ:219420) and its ROCE trend, we weren't exactly thrilled.
Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Linkgenesis:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.017 = ₩812m ÷ (₩53b - ₩5.5b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).
Thus, Linkgenesis has an ROCE of 1.7%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the IT industry average of 9.1%.
View our latest analysis for Linkgenesis
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 Linkgenesis.
In terms of Linkgenesis' historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 1.7% from 8.6% five years ago. Meanwhile, the business is utilizing more capital but this hasn't moved the needle much in terms of sales in the past 12 months, so this could reflect longer term investments. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line.
To conclude, we've found that Linkgenesis is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. Since the stock has declined 27% over the last five years, investors may not be too optimistic on this trend improving either. On the whole, we aren't too inspired by the underlying trends and we think there may be better chances of finding a multi-bagger elsewhere.
One more thing: We've identified 3 warning signs with Linkgenesis (at least 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) , and understanding them would certainly be useful.
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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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.