Benzinga | Feb 17, 2021 09:37AM EST

ROCE Insights For 3M

3M (NYSE:MMM) posted a 3.14% decrease in earnings from Q3. Sales, however, increased by 2.79% over the previous quarter to $8.58 billion. Despite the increase in sales this quarter, the decrease in earnings may suggest 3M is not utilizing their capital as effectively as possible. In Q3, 3M earned $1.91 billion and total sales reached $8.35 billion.

What Is Return On Capital Employed?

Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in 3M's Return on Capital Employed, a measure of yearly pre-tax profit relative to capital employed by a business. Generally, a higher ROCE suggests successful growth of a company and is a sign of higher earnings per share in the future. In Q4, 3M posted an ROCE of 0.14%.

It is important to keep in mind ROCE evaluates past performance and is not used as a predictive tool. It is a good measure of a company's recent performance, but several factors could affect earnings and sales in the near future.

ROCE is an important metric for the comparison of similar companies. A relatively high ROCE shows 3M is potentially operating at a higher level of efficiency than other companies in its industry. If the company is generating high profits with its current level of capital, some of that money can be reinvested in more capital which will generally lead to higher returns and earnings per share growth.

For 3M, the return on capital employed ratio shows the number of assets can actually help the company achieve higher returns, an important note investors will take into account when gauging the payoff from long-term financing strategies.

Q4 Earnings Insight

3M reported Q4 earnings per share at $2.38/share, which beat analyst predictions of $2.15/share.