Benzinga | Oct 22, 2020 09:49AM EDT

Looking Into WD-40's Return On Capital Employed

Looking at Q4, WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) earned $24.52 million, a 23.76% increase from the preceding quarter. WD-40 also posted a total of $111.65 million in sales, a 13.64% increase since Q3. In Q3, WD-40 earned $19.81 million, whereas sales reached $98.25 million.

Why ROCE Is Significant

Return on Capital Employed is a measure of yearly pre-tax profit relative to capital employed by a business. Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in a company's ROCE. A higher ROCE is generally representative of successful growth of a company and is a sign of higher earnings per share in the future. A low or negative ROCE suggests the opposite. In Q4, WD-40 posted an ROCE of 0.15%.

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 WD-40's case, the positive ROCE ratio will be something investors pay attention to before making long-term financial decisions.

Q4 Earnings Insight

WD-40 reported Q4 earnings per share at $1.42/share, which beat analyst predictions of $1.13/share.