Looking into Aerie Pharmaceuticals's Return on Capital Employed

After pulling data from Benzinga Pro it seems like during Q2, Aerie Pharmaceuticals AERI posted sales of $27.18 million. Earnings were up 7.94%, but Aerie Pharmaceuticals still reported an overall loss of $31.50 million. In Q1, Aerie Pharmaceuticals brought in $22.97 million in sales but lost $34.22 million in earnings.

What Is ROCE?

Changes in earnings and sales indicate shifts in Aerie Pharmaceuticals'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 Q2, Aerie Pharmaceuticals posted an ROCE of 0.8%.

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 Aerie Pharmaceuticals 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 Aerie Pharmaceuticals, 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.

Upcoming Earnings Estimate

Aerie Pharmaceuticals reported Q2 earnings per share at $-0.67/share, which did not meet analyst predictions of $-0.64/share.