Advertisement
Australia markets closed
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • AUD/USD

    0.6497
    -0.0039 (-0.60%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • OIL

    81.82
    +0.47 (+0.58%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,214.50
    +1.80 (+0.08%)
     
  • Bitcoin AUD

    108,675.12
    +1,188.85 (+1.11%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     

Surmodics (NASDAQ:SRDX) Might Be Having Difficulty Using Its Capital Effectively

What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? 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. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. Although, when we looked at Surmodics (NASDAQ:SRDX), it didn't seem to tick all of these boxes.

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. The formula for this calculation on Surmodics is:

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

0.035 = US$5.7m ÷ (US$177m - US$18m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

ADVERTISEMENT

Thus, Surmodics has an ROCE of 3.5%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Medical Equipment industry average of 8.8%.

View our latest analysis for Surmodics

roce
roce

In the above chart we have measured Surmodics' 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 report for Surmodics.

So How Is Surmodics' ROCE Trending?

In terms of Surmodics' historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 20% over the last five years. However it looks like Surmodics might be reinvesting for long term growth because while capital employed has increased, the company's sales haven't changed much in the last 12 months. It may take some time before the company starts to see any change in earnings from these investments.

What We Can Learn From Surmodics' ROCE

To conclude, we've found that Surmodics is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. Since the stock has gained an impressive 95% over the last five years, investors must think there's better things to come. However, unless these underlying trends turn more positive, we wouldn't get our hopes up too high.

If you want to continue researching Surmodics, you might be interested to know about the 1 warning sign that our analysis has discovered.

While Surmodics 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.