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. Amongst other things, we'll want to see two things; firstly, a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an expansion in the company's amount of capital employed. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. That's why when we briefly looked at ResMed's (NYSE:RMD) ROCE trend, we were very happy with what we saw.

Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. The formula for this calculation on ResMed is:

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

0.20 = US$1.2b ÷ (US$6.7b - US$771m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

So, ResMed has an ROCE of 20%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 9.3% earned by companies in a similar industry.

Check out our latest analysis for ResMed

In the above chart we have measured ResMed's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for ResMed.

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

ResMed deserves to be commended in regards to it's returns. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 20% and the business has deployed 126% more capital into its operations. Returns like this are the envy of most businesses and given it has repeatedly reinvested at these rates, that's even better. You'll see this when looking at well operated businesses or favorable business models.

The Bottom Line On ResMed's ROCE

In short, we'd argue ResMed has the makings of a multi-bagger since its been able to compound its capital at very profitable rates of return. And the stock has followed suit returning a meaningful 54% to shareholders over the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we still believe the stock deserves further research.

Before jumping to any conclusions though, we need to know what value we're getting for the current share price. That's where you can check out our FREE intrinsic value estimation that compares the share price and estimated value.

If you'd like to see other companies earning high returns, check out our free list of companies earning high returns with solid balance sheets here.

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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.