If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. 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. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at IVD Medical Holding (HKG:1931) so let's look a bit deeper.

What Is 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 IVD Medical Holding is:

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

0.11 = CN¥362m ÷ (CN¥4.6b - CN¥1.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

Thus, IVD Medical Holding has an ROCE of 11%. That's a pretty standard return and it's in line with the industry average of 11%.

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for IVD Medical Holding's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you're interested in investigating IVD Medical Holding's past further, check out this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

How Are Returns Trending?

The trends we've noticed at IVD Medical Holding are quite reassuring. The numbers show that in the last five years, the returns generated on capital employed have grown considerably to 11%. The company is effectively making more money per dollar of capital used, and it's worth noting that the amount of capital has increased too, by 275%. The increasing returns on a growing amount of capital is common amongst multi-baggers and that's why we're impressed.

On a side note, we noticed that the improvement in ROCE appears to be partly fueled by an increase in current liabilities. Essentially the business now has suppliers or short-term creditors funding about 25% of its operations, which isn't ideal. Keep an eye out for future increases because when the ratio of current liabilities to total assets gets particularly high, this can introduce some new risks for the business.

The Bottom Line On IVD Medical Holding's ROCE

To sum it up, IVD Medical Holding has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. Since the stock has only returned 14% to shareholders over the last three 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.

If you'd like to know about the risks facing IVD Medical Holding, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

While IVD Medical Holding may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list 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.