To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? 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. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. That's why when we briefly looked at bioMérieux's (EPA:BIM) ROCE trend, we were pretty happy with what we saw.
Return On Capital Employed (ROCE): What Is It?
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 bioMérieux, this is the formula:
Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)
0.16 = €704m ÷ (€5.4b - €1.0b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2025).
Therefore, bioMérieux has an ROCE of 16%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Medical Equipment industry average of 7.0% it's much better.
View our latest analysis for bioMérieux
Above you can see how the current ROCE for bioMérieux compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free analyst report for bioMérieux .
The Trend Of ROCE
The trend of ROCE doesn't stand out much, but returns on a whole are decent. The company has consistently earned 16% for the last five years, and the capital employed within the business has risen 49% in that time. 16% is a pretty standard return, and it provides some comfort knowing that bioMérieux has consistently earned this amount. 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.
On a side note, bioMérieux has done well to reduce current liabilities to 19% of total assets over the last five years. Effectively suppliers now fund less of the business, which can lower some elements of risk.
In Conclusion...
In the end, bioMérieux has proven its ability to adequately reinvest capital at good rates of return. However, over the last five years, the stock hasn't provided much growth to shareholders in the way of total returns. That's why we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the fundamentals are appealing.
One more thing, we've spotted 1 warning sign facing bioMérieux that you might find interesting.
For those who like to invest in solid companies, check out this free list of companies with solid balance sheets and high returns on equity.
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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.