According to data from Benzinga Pro, during Q1, Zynga's (NASDAQ:ZNGA) reported sales totaled $694.90 million. Despite a 63.6% increase in earnings, the company posted a loss of $24.50 million. In Q4, Zynga brought in $726.60 million in sales but lost $67.30 million in earnings.

What Is Return On Capital Employed?

Earnings data without context is not clear and can be difficult to base trading decisions on. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) helps to filter signal from noise by measuring 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 Q1, Zynga posted an ROCE of -0.01%.

It is important to keep in mind that ROCE evaluates past performance and is not used as a predictive tool. It is a good measure of a company's recent performance, but does not account for factors that could affect earnings and sales in the near future.

ROCE is a powerful metric for comparing the effectiveness of capital allocation for similar companies. A relatively high ROCE shows Zynga 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, ultimately, earnings per share (EPS) growth.

For Zynga, a negative ROCE ratio of -0.01% suggests that management may not be effectively allocating their capital. Effective capital allocation is a positive indicator that a company will achieve more durable success and favorable long-term returns; poor capital allocation can be a leech on the performance of a company over time.

Upcoming Earnings Estimate

Zynga reported Q1 earnings per share at $0.09/share, which did not meet analyst predictions of $0.09/share.

This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and reviewed by an editor.