Three companies winning the profitability game hands down

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When it comes to investing in the Indian stock market, most investors gravitate toward the big names—Reliance Industries, Tata group, Adani. These companies dominate the headlines, and investors often wonder what sets them apart.

In any investment decision, countless metrics are considered to evaluate stocks. At the core of it all is one thing every business, whether it's Tata or the grocery store down the street, strives for—profitability. Ultimately, every analysis points back to this one goal.

It's no surprise that the blue-chip giants dominate here, but they're not the only ones worth paying attention to. There's a key metric that often gets overlooked when assessing profitability: Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). Sometimes referred to as Return on Invested Capital (ROIC), ROCE is a simple yet powerful financial ratio that tells us how efficiently a company is generating profits from its invested capital.

This is where the distinction lies—not just in how much profit a company makes, but in how well it converts capital into profit. To calculate ROCE, divide a company’s earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) by its capital employed (shareholders' equity plus long-term liabilities). In other words, it measures how many rupees of profit are generated for every rupee of capital invested.

But this ratio is more than just a number. It offers insights into a company’s operational efficiency and long-term sustainability. A high ROCE means a company is effectively turning capital into profits.