Benzinga | Jan 12, 2021 09:55AM EST

Return On Capital Employed Overview: U.S. Well Servs

U.S. Well Servs (NASDAQ:USWS) reported Q3 sales of $44.04 million. Earnings fell to a loss of $9.61 million, resulting in a 18.26% decrease from last quarter. In Q2, U.S. Well Servs brought in $39.84 million in sales but lost $11.75 million in earnings.

What Is Return On Capital Employed?

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 Q3, U.S. Well Servs posted an ROCE of 2.29%.

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 U.S. Well Servs's case, the positive ROCE ratio will be something investors pay attention to before making long-term financial decisions.

Q3 Earnings Insight

U.S. Well Servs reported Q3 earnings per share at $-0.28/share, which did not meet analyst predictions of $-0.12/share.