Benzinga | Jun 28, 2021 10:40AM EDT

JM Smucker: Return On Capital Employed Insights

Looking at Q4, JM Smucker (NYSE:SJM) earned $238.70 million, a 41.24% increase from the preceding quarter. JM Smucker's sales decreased to $1.92 billion, a 7.56% change since Q3. JM Smucker earned $406.20 million, and sales totaled $2.08 billion in Q3.

Why ROCE Is Significant

Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in JM Smucker'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, JM Smucker posted an ROCE of 0.03%.

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.

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.

For JM Smucker, 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 Recap

JM Smucker reported Q4 earnings per share at $1.89/share, which beat analyst predictions of $1.67/share.