The ROCE of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is 7.96%
Return on capital employed (ROCE) is a financial ratio that measures a company’s profitability and the efficiency with which its capital is used.
= EBIT / (assets - current liabilities)
Return on capital employed (ROCE) is the total amount of capital that a company has utilized in order to generate profits. It is the sum of shareholders' equity and debt liabilities. It can be simplified as total assets minus current liabilities.
ROCE is especially useful when comparing the performance of companies in capital-intensive sectors. ROCE considers debt and other liabilities as well compared to other fundamentals which only analyze profitability related to a company’s common equity. This provides a better indication of financial performance for companies with significant debt. For a company, the ROCE trend over the years is also an important indicator of performance. In general, investors tend to favor companies with stable and rising ROCE numbers over companies where ROCE is volatile and bounces around from one year to the next.
Instead of using capital employed at an arbitrary point in time, analysts and investors often calculate ROCE based on the average capital employed (ROACE), which takes the average of opening and closing capital employed for the time period.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the insurance, freight rail transportation, and utility businesses worldwide. It provides property, casualty, life, accident, and health insurance and reinsurance; and operates railroad systems in North America. The company also generates, transmits, stores, and distributes electricity from natural gas, coal, wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, and geothermal sources; operates natural gas distribution and storage facilities, interstate pipelines, liquefied natural gas facilities, and compressor and meter stations; and holds interest in coal mining assets. In addition, the company manufactures boxed chocolates and other confectionery products; specialty chemicals, metal cutting tools, and components for aerospace and power generation applications; and flooring, insulation, roofing and engineered, building and engineered components, paints and coatings, and bricks and masonry products, as well as offers manufactured and site-built home construction, and related lending and financial services; and recreational vehicles, apparel products, jewelry, and custom picture framing products, and alkaline batteries. Further, it manufactures castings, forgings, fasteners/fastener systems, and aerostructures; and seamless pipes, fittings, downhole casing and tubing, and various mill forms. Additionally, the company distributes televisions and information; franchises and services quick service restaurants; distributes electronic components; and offers logistics services, grocery and foodservice distribution services, and professional aviation training and shared aircraft ownership programs. It also retails automobiles; furniture, bedding, and accessories; household appliances, electronics, and computers; jewelry, watches, crystal, china, stemware, flatware, gifts, and collectibles; kitchenware; and motorcycle apparel and equipment. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.