Benzinga | Sep 23, 2020 09:55AM EDT

ROCE Insights For Western Digital

Looking at Q4, Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) earned $261.00 million, a 70.59% increase from the preceding quarter. Western Digital also posted a total of $4.29 billion in sales, a 2.68% increase since Q3. In Q3, Western Digital earned $153.00 million, and total sales reached $4.17 billion.

What Is Return On Capital Employed?

Return on Capital Employed is a measure of yearly pre-tax profit relative to capital employed in a business. Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in a company's ROCE. A higher ROCE is generally representative of successful growth in a company and is a sign of higher earnings per share for shareholders in the future. A low or negative ROCE suggests the opposite. In Q4, Western Digital posted an ROCE of 0.03%.

Keep in mind, while ROCE is a good measure of a company's recent performance, it is not a highly reliable predictor of a company's earnings or sales in the near future.

Return on Capital Employed is an important measurement of efficiency and a useful tool when comparing companies that operate in the same industry. A relatively high ROCE indicates a company may be generating profits that can be reinvested into more capital, leading to higher returns and growing EPS for shareholders.

In Western Digital's case, the positive ROCE ratio will be something investors pay attention to before making long-term financial decisions.

Q4 Earnings Recap

Western Digital reported Q4 earnings per share at $1.23/share, which beat analyst predictions of $1.21/share.