Volt Information Sciences Insights: Return On Capital Employed

Volt Information Sciences VOLT posted a 154.69% decrease in earnings from Q1. Sales, however, increased by 1.9% over the previous quarter to $222.09 million. Despite the increase in sales this quarter, the decrease in earnings may suggest Volt Information Sciences is not utilizing their capital as effectively as possible. Volt Information Sciences collected $217.96 million in revenue during Q1, but reported earnings showed a $1.73 million loss.

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 Q2, Volt Information Sciences 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.

ROCE is an important metric for the comparison of similar companies. A relatively high ROCE shows Volt Information Sciences 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.

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

Q2 Earnings Recap

Volt Information Sciences reported Q2 earnings per share at $0.12/share, which beat analyst predictions of $-0.01/share.