If you're looking for a multi-bagger, there's a few things to keep an eye out for. Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So when we looked at Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), they do have a high ROCE, but we weren't exactly elated from how returns are trending.

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Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

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. The formula for this calculation on Starbucks is:

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

0.22 = US$4.8b ÷ (US$32b - US$9.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

So, Starbucks has an ROCE of 22%. In absolute terms that's a great return and it's even better than the Hospitality industry average of 9.8%.

View our latest analysis for Starbucks

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Starbucks 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 analyst report for Starbucks .

What Can We Tell From Starbucks' ROCE Trend?

There hasn't been much to report for Starbucks' returns and its level of capital employed because both metrics have been steady for the past five years. It's not uncommon to see this when looking at a mature and stable business that isn't re-investing its earnings because it has likely passed that phase of the business cycle. Although current returns are high, we'd need more evidence of underlying growth for it to look like a multi-bagger going forward. That being the case, it makes sense that Starbucks has been paying out 66% of its earnings to its shareholders. These mature businesses typically have reliable earnings and not many places to reinvest them, so the next best option is to put the earnings into shareholders pockets.

Our Take On Starbucks' ROCE

In summary, Starbucks isn't compounding its earnings but is generating decent returns on the same amount of capital employed. And with the stock having returned a mere 26% in the last five years to shareholders, you could argue that they're aware of these lackluster trends. As a result, if you're hunting for a multi-bagger, we think you'd have more luck elsewhere.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Starbucks (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should know about.

High returns are a key ingredient to strong performance, so check out our free list ofstocks 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.