
Investors can compare two competitors with similar business models to see which one utilizes its assets better.įor example, Company A might have $20 million in income and $100 million in assets. While ROA is a great metric for evaluating how well a company’s management leverages its assets into revenue, it’s equally as great as a comparison metric. The higher the ROA, the better a company’s asset efficiency. This means that every dollar in assets the company has generates 10 cents in revenue. The company would have a 10% return on assets (10/100 = 0.10). Return on Assets = Net Income / Total AssetsĪs an example, say that ABC Company generated $10 million in total income last year, with $100 million in assets on its books. To calculate Return on Assets as percentage, investors need to know the net income the company generated, as well as the cumulative value of assets carried on its balance sheet. The goal of calculating ROA is to understand how efficient a company is at generating revenue through its assets.

It’s a very simple, very insightful metric that can help investors make a more informed decision about what companies they choose-particularly for growth investing. Investors will often use it in conjunction with other profitability metrics to better-contextualize how a company makes money. Return on Assets is a popular evaluation metric for the financial health of a company. Conversely, lower ROA figures can indicate inefficiencies-or bad investments. The higher the percentage, the more effective the company is at leveraging its assets. It’s calculated by dividing net income by total assets. Return on assets is a way to measure how much profit a company generates with the assets on its books. Hence, two companies in the same industry, but at different stages of growth, will have very different Return On Assets.Every company holds assets: resources that generate economic value, measured as return on assets (ROA). They may not use the asset base immediately and the benefits may be realized years later. In the introduction and growth stage, companies invest a lot of money to create asset bases.

Return on Assets is very sensitive to the stage of growth that a company is currently experiencing. Return on Assets is therefore independent of leverage. The asset base could be financed by equity or by debt but it will not make a difference. Return on assets compares the earnings that a company has generated to its asset base. This brings down the Return On Assets (ROA) ratio. Also many other companies hold a lot of impaired and obsolete assets which they plan to sell in the near future. The most valuable company in the world Apple Inc is one such example. A lot of companies hold significant cash on their balance sheet. This assumption is likely to be proved incorrect. The Return on Assets ratio assumes that the company is using all its assets to run the day to day operations. This may affect the ROA adversely and reduce its usability as a profitability metric. However, in real life, it is a known fact that companies keep over and/or under valuing their assets to reduce taxation. The ROA ratio assumes that the assets have been valued fairly on the books.

This is because a higher ratio would indicate that the company can produce relatively higher earnings in comparison to its asset base i.e. The Return on Assets (ROA) ratio shows the relationship between earnings and asset base of the company.

Some calculations may include intangible assets while some others may exclude them from calculation of Return on Assets.More about this very important ratio has been stated in this article. Another metric that is widely used by investors to gauge the profitability of a company is Return on Assets (ROA).
