Finding a business that has the potential to grow substantially is not easy, but it is possible if we look at a few key financial metrics. 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. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. To calculate this metric for Intuitive Surgical, this is the formula:

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

0.13 = US$1.8b ÷ (US$15b - US$1.7b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

So, Intuitive Surgical has an ROCE of 13%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Medical Equipment industry average of 9.9% it's much better.

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Intuitive Surgical compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for Intuitive Surgical .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

On the surface, the trend of ROCE at Intuitive Surgical doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 18% over the last five years. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run.

The Bottom Line On Intuitive Surgical's ROCE

In summary, despite lower returns in the short term, we're encouraged to see that Intuitive Surgical is reinvesting for growth and has higher sales as a result. And long term investors must be optimistic going forward because the stock has returned a huge 109% to shareholders in the last five years. So should these growth trends continue, we'd be optimistic on the stock going forward.

Intuitive Surgical could be trading at an attractive price in other respects, so you might find our free intrinsic value estimation for ISRG on our platform quite valuable.

While Intuitive Surgical 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.