Looking into CRA International's Return on Capital Employed

After pulling data from Benzinga Pro it seems like during Q2, CRA International CRAI earned $15.94 million, a 8.88% increase from the preceding quarter. CRA International also posted a total of $148.24 million in sales, a 1.17% increase since Q1. In Q1, CRA International earned $14.64 million, and total sales reached $146.52 million.

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 Q2, CRA International posted an ROCE of 0.08%.

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 CRA International 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 CRA International's case, the positive ROCE ratio will be something investors pay attention to before making long-term financial decisions.