Tuesday, March 18, 2008

4U and Me - Financial Ratios !!!!

Understanding Financial Ratios – Simplified for an Analyst

Liquidity Ratios

What it tells?
It’s a measure of the company's ability to pay-off its short term debt obligations.

How it is measured?
It is measured by comparing the company's most liquid assets and short term liabilities.

  • Current Ratio
  • Quick Ratio
  • Cash Ratio

Current Ratio

A Popular ratio to check company’s liquidity position.It is calculated as

CR = Current Assets/Current Liabilities

It can be referred as Working Capital position.It clearly shows the ability of the company to pay-off their short term debts using their short term assets.Higher the Current Ratio , better for the company

Short term Assets - Cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, receivables and inventory

Short term Liabilities - Notes payable, current portion of term debt, payables, accrued expenses and taxes

Quick Ratio

Popularly known as acid-test ratio.It is calculated as

QR = (Cash & Equivalents + Receivables + Short Term Investments) /Current Liabilities

It refines the current ratio by considering the most liquid current assets to cover the current liabilities.It does not include Inventory and Other current assets because it is more difficult to convert them into cash.Higher the Quick Ratio, more liquid the company


Cash Ratio

It further refines CR and QR.It shows the ability of the company to cover the current liabilities with the cash & equivalents and Short term investments.It is the most stringent liquidity ratio considering only the most liquid items.It is calculated as

Cash Ratio = Cash & Equivalents + Short Term Investments / Current Liabilities

Profitability Ratios

What it tells?
It’s gives user a better understanding on how well the company has utilized its resources to make profit

  • Profit Margin Analysis
  • ROA
  • ROE
  • ROCE

Profit Margin Analysis

It is the amount of profit generated by the company as a percent of the sales generated.
Gross Profit Margin, Operating Profit Margin, PBT Margin, Net profit Margin.It is calculated as

(Gross Profit or Operating Profit or PBT or PAT/Net profit) / Net Sales

The net profit margin is the most mentioned and referred value.

Return on Assets

This ratio indicates how profitable a company is relative to its total assets.The ROA ratio is calculated by comparing net income to average total assets, and is expressed as a percentage
It is calculated as

ROA = Net Income / Average Total Assets.

Assets include Fixed assets and Current assets

Return on Equity

This ratio indicates how profitable a company is by comparing its net income to its average shareholders' equity.The higher the ratio percentage, the more efficient management is in utilizing its equity base and the better return is to investors.It is calculated as

ROE = Net Income/Average Share holders Equity

Return on capital employed

This measure narrows the focus to gain a better understanding of a company's ability to generate returns from its available capital base.By comparing net income to the sum of a company's debt and equity capital, investors can get a clear picture of how the use of leverage impacts a company's profitability.It is calculated as

ROCE = Net Income / Total Capital Employed

0 comments: