If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. So on that note, Surmodics (NASDAQ:SRDX) looks quite promising in regards to its trends of return on capital.

Understanding 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 Surmodics, this is the formula:

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

0.11 = US$18m ÷ (US$183m - US$19m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

So, Surmodics has an ROCE of 11%. That's a relatively normal return on capital, and it's around the 10.0% generated by the Medical Equipment industry.

View our latest analysis for Surmodics

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Surmodics compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Surmodics for free.

What Can We Tell From Surmodics' ROCE Trend?

We like the trends that we're seeing from Surmodics. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 11%. The amount of capital employed has increased too, by 25%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

In Conclusion...

In summary, it's great to see that Surmodics can compound returns by consistently reinvesting capital at increasing rates of return, because these are some of the key ingredients of those highly sought after multi-baggers. Since the stock has only returned 2.1% to shareholders over the last five years, the promising fundamentals may not be recognized yet by investors. So exploring more about this stock could uncover a good opportunity, if the valuation and other metrics stack up.

Since virtually every company faces some risks, it's worth knowing what they are, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Surmodics (of which 1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should know about.

While Surmodics isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.