Saturday, June 20, 2020

What is Return on Equity (ROE)?

ROE is an indicator of how effective management is at using equity financing to fund operations and grow the company.

ROE can also be used in analyzing the performance of the company as compared to its peers and the overall market. This financial metric is especially beneficial when comparing firms within the same industry as it tends to give accurate indications of companies which are operating with greater financial efficiency. 

A steady or increasing ROE signifies a company which knows how to reinvest its earnings while a declining ROE is symbolic of management that delivers poor shareholder returns from their earnings.  

ROE can be computed with a simple formula as below: 


For example, a company with an ROE of 20% indicates that the company earns 20 cents on every 1 dollar of equity.