Return Trends At Abiomed (NASDAQ:ABMD) Aren't Appealing
Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Typically, we'll want to notice a trend of growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and alongside that, an expanding base of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So, when we ran our eye over Abiomed's (NASDAQ:ABMD) trend of ROCE, we liked what we saw.
What is 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. The formula for this calculation on Abiomed is:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.20 = US$265m ÷ (US$1.5b - US$113m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).
Therefore, Abiomed has an ROCE of 20%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Medical Equipment industry average of 8.9% it's much better.
Check out our latest analysis for Abiomed
In the above chart we have measured Abiomed's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Abiomed here for free.
So How Is Abiomed's ROCE Trending?
While the returns on capital are good, they haven't moved much. Over the past five years, ROCE has remained relatively flat at around 20% and the business has deployed 248% more capital into its operations. Since 20% is a moderate ROCE though, it's good to see a business can continue to reinvest at these decent rates of return. Over long periods of time, returns like these might not be too exciting, but with consistency they can pay off in terms of share price returns.
The Key Takeaway
In the end, Abiomed has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. And long term investors would be thrilled with the 189% return they've received over the last five years. So while the positive underlying trends may be accounted for by investors, we still think this stock is worth looking into further.
While Abiomed doesn't shine too bright in this respect, it's still worth seeing if the company is trading at attractive prices. You can find that out with our FREE intrinsic value estimation on our platform.
While Abiomed isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets.
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.
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