Return On Capital Employed Overview: Palantir Technologies

During Q4, Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) brought in sales totaling $322.09 million. However, earnings decreased 81.53%, resulting in a loss of $156.57 million. Palantir Technologies collected $289.37 million in revenue during Q3, but reported earnings showed a $847.78 million loss.

What Is ROCE?

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 Q4, Palantir Technologies posted an ROCE of -0.1%.

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 Palantir Technologies 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 Palantir Technologies's case, the ROCE ratio shows the amount of assets may not be helping the company achieve higher returns. Investors may take this into account before making any long-term financial decisions.

Q4 Earnings Insight

Palantir Technologies reported Q4 earnings per share at $0.06/share, which beat analyst predictions of $0.02/share.