If a company goes to great lengths to make a point, sometimes it's good to ask yourself why.

In the case of Fisher Scientific (NYSE:FSH), management seemed driven to prove that organic growth in its core markets was in the high single digits -- most likely because it knows that analysts would fall on it like wolves if growth was seen to be lagging. Perhaps not so surprisingly (at least not to those of you who read my columns regularly), I don't think this is the number to be worrying about.

Overall reported revenue rose 8% -- nearly 10% excluding the impact of currency. And as management went to great pains to tell us all, organic growth in the core scientific research and health-care markets was better than 8%. Margins were also better this quarter, but the extent of that improvement depends on which operating-income number you choose to use -- go with reported, and you have 27% growth, but go with pro forma, and the number is 9%. Either way, though, free cash flow (and structural free cash flow) growth was solid.

Fisher has been a serial acquirer of other companies, and it's not about to stop. The press release highlighted the company's purchases of Athena, Clintrak, and TC Tech, and the first could arguably be the most interesting, since it will give the company an entry into molecular and esoteric diagnostics -- a subsegment of diagnostics with better growth prospects at the moment.

Turning back to my opening paragraph, I reiterate that I don't care much about the organic-growth situation here. Maybe I'm giving the company too much credit, but I assume that it'll be able to drive mid- to high-single-digit growth and supplement that with acquisitions. After all, it's been at this game for a long while now.

What does concern me is the relatively low return on invested capital. Every research lab I've been in has Fisher products somewhere in the room, but that doesn't seem to be translating into the double-digit returns that other lab/research players, such as Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ:SIAL), Beckman Coulter (NYSE:BEC), or Applied Biosystems (NYSE:ABI) seem to manage.

That ultimately mutes my enthusiasm here. I think this is a good business opportunity, but I'm not about to buy into a stock with below-average returns unless it's very cheap -- and these shares aren't "very cheap" today.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).