STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Shareholders Will Want The ROCE Trajectory To Continue

If we want to find a potential multi-bagger, often there are underlying trends that can provide clues. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. With that in mind, we've noticed some promising trends at STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) so let's look a bit deeper.

What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

For those that aren't sure what ROCE is, it measures the amount of pre-tax profits a company can generate from the capital employed in its business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for STAAR Surgical:

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

0.07 = US$30m ÷ (US$489m - US$65m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

So, STAAR Surgical has an ROCE of 7.0%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Medical Equipment industry average of 9.4%.

Check out our latest analysis for STAAR Surgical

In the above chart we have measured STAAR Surgical's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free analyst report for STAAR Surgical .

What The Trend Of ROCE Can Tell Us

Even though ROCE is still low in absolute terms, it's good to see it's heading in the right direction. The data shows that returns on capital have increased substantially over the last five years to 7.0%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 203% more capital is being employed now too. This can indicate that there's plenty of opportunities to invest capital internally and at ever higher rates, a combination that's common among multi-baggers.

The Key Takeaway

To sum it up, STAAR Surgical has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. Investors may not be impressed by the favorable underlying trends yet because over the last five years the stock has only returned 8.0% to shareholders. Given that, we'd look further into this stock in case it has more traits that could make it multiply in the long term.

Like most companies, STAAR Surgical does come with some risks, and we've found 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

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.