Return on Capital Employed Formula ROCE Calculator Excel Template

Companies optimize their cost of capital by maintaining an optimal capital structure. Using leverage strategically at low costs allows companies to increase ROCE and maximize shareholder returns over time. The key factors that affect ROCE are profitability, capital, leverage, economy, pricing power, cost structure, operational efficiency, and asset turnover.

Companies also improve gross margins by raising prices judiciously when raw material or wage inflation occurs. The return on capital employed (ROCE) ratio is calculated by expressing profit before interest and tax as a percentage of total capital employed. There are many other reasons investors may avoid the ROCE when trying to make investment decisions. For instance, the values used in ROCE calculations are coming  from the balance sheet, which contains historical or past data.

1. In other words, this ratio can help to understand how well a company is generating profits from its capital as it is put to use.
2. You can find capital employed by deducting current liabilities from total assets.
3. Its name is Synnex, a TI (technical information) company related to the data center business.
4. Investors tend to favor companies with stable and rising ROCE levels over companies where ROCE is volatile or trending lower.
5. A company improves its ROCE by focusing on strategies that increase profitability and improve capital efficiency.

The obvious way is to improve profit, but an alternative approach is to reduce the capital employed. Finally, to find ROCE, we have to divide the operating income by the capital employed. However, analysts typically prefer companies that generate a higher ROCE because it means they are using their capital more efficiently. Here’s how ROCE works, including how to calculate it, the ratio’s limitations and how ROCE compares to several other popular financial ratios.

Multiplying ROCE by the retained earnings rate gives an estimate of growth potential. Companies with high ROCE and high retention funds expand internally and tend to grow faster. Low ROCE companies rely on debt and equity financing, which is more expensive and dilutes shareholder value. Turning to the numerators, ROCE uses net operating profit before interest and taxes (NOPBT). Tax impacts vary significantly depending on jurisdiction, tax credits, losses, and other factors.

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ROCE also assists discounted cash flow models used for intrinsic valuation. The long-term ROCE projection is a key driver of estimated future cash flows and valuation. A high ROCE also indicates a company possesses durable return on capital employed ratio formula competitive advantages versus peers. These could be in the form of proprietary technology, brand reputation, distribution muscle, economies of scale, captive raw material sources, or high customer switching costs.

One key limitation stems from ROCE being based on accounting profits rather than cash flows. Since accounting rules allow substantial discretion in how profits are measured, ROCE is manipulated through accounting policies. For example, conservatively increasing depreciation expense decreases net income and lowers ROCE. Management artificially boosts ROCE by opting for faster inventory costing methods like LIFO, increasing capitalization of expenses, or relaxing reserve accounts like bad debt provisions. Comparing ROCE across firms requires normalizing earnings to exclude distortion from different accounting treatments.

Return on Capital Employed Calculator (ROCE)

To calculate ROACE, divide earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by the average total assets minus the average current liabilities. ROACE differs from the return on capital employed (ROCE) because it takes into account the averages of assets and liabilities over a period of time. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) is a key financial metric used by investors to evaluate a company’s capital efficiency and profitability. ROCE measures how effectively a company generates earnings from the capital it uses in its business operations, which includes equity, debt, and working capital.

The limitations of ROCE

Therefore, the ROCE approach gives a fuller picture of the underlying efficiency of companies, especially those with substantial debt. ROCE provides a comprehensive measure of a company’s overall performance by considering both profitability and capital efficiency. It helps assess the effectiveness of capital allocation decisions and the ability to generate returns on invested capital. Therefore, ROCE allows for meaningful comparisons between companies operating in different industries and highlights a company’s ability to generate profits from the capital it employs. Capital employed refers to the amount of capital investment a business uses to operate and provides an indication of how a company is investing its money.

What Is Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)?

Publicly traded companies aim to maximize profits to deliver strong returns to shareholders. More profitable companies with higher profit margins tend to have higher ROCE. Investors analyzing stocks look closely at metrics like net income, EPS, operating margins, etc., to gauge profitability. Companies with sustained high profitability tend to have efficient operations, strong brands, pricing power, innovation, and good cost management.

As profits rise, companies reinvest to grow while returning more capital to shareholders. Markets reward consistently profitable companies with higher valuations and premium stock prices, leading to superior shareholder returns over time. Profitability enables firms to generate consistently high ROCE even as they continue to invest in growing their businesses. Thus, improving profitability is a key focus area for companies to maintain high ROCE and create shareholder value.

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This signals adept capital allocation into productive investments that drive returns. Conversely, a low ROCE implies the invested capital is not generating adequate profits commensurate with the scale of investment. This signals that the company is investing its capital wisely and is deploying assets efficiently to produce returns. A low ROCE, on the other hand, means that a company is not utilizing its capital effectively to earn profits.ROCE is an important ratio that investors use to analyze and compare companies. It provides insight into how well a company is managing its capital and whether its investments are profitable. Investors prefer companies with a consistently high ROCE as it suggests the company has a sustainable competitive advantage in efficiently allocating capital into profitable investments.

But it’s generally a given that having a ratio of 20% or more means that a company is doing well. Capital employed is calculated by subtracting current liabilities from total assets (total assets are the net value of all fixed assets plus all capital investments and current assets). You can also find capital employed by adding noncurrent liabilities to owners’ equity. In other words, it is a measure of the value of assets minus current liabilities. A current liability is the portion of debt that must be paid back within one year.