If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. That's why when we briefly looked at Edwards Lifesciences' (NYSE:EW) ROCE trend, we were very happy with what we saw.

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. The formula for this calculation on Edwards Lifesciences is:

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

0.21 = US$1.7b ÷ (US$9.4b - US$1.2b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

So, Edwards Lifesciences has an ROCE of 21%. That's a fantastic return and not only that, it outpaces the average of 9.6% earned by companies in a similar industry.

In the above chart we have measured Edwards Lifesciences' prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for Edwards Lifesciences .

What Does the ROCE Trend For Edwards Lifesciences Tell Us?

In terms of Edwards Lifesciences' history of ROCE, it's quite impressive. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 21% and the business has deployed 84% 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. If Edwards Lifesciences can keep this up, we'd be very optimistic about its future.

The Bottom Line On Edwards Lifesciences' ROCE

Edwards Lifesciences has demonstrated its proficiency by generating high returns on increasing amounts of capital employed, which we're thrilled about. Therefore it's no surprise that shareholders have earned a respectable 49% return if they held over the last five years. So even though the stock might be more "expensive" than it was before, we think the strong fundamentals warrant this stock for 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 for EW that compares the share price and estimated value.

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.