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Return on Assets—ROA
REVIEWED BY MARSHALL HARGRAVE | Updated Jul 3, 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What Is Return on Assets—ROA? The Basics of Return on Assets—ROA
The Significance of ROA Example of Return on Assets—ROA
ROA vs Return on Equity—ROE Limitations of Return on Assets—ROA
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Return on Assets (ROA) is an indicator of how well a company utilizes its assets, by
determining how profitable a company is relative to its total assets.
ROA is best used when comparing similar companies or comparing a company to its
previous performance.
ROA takes into account a company’s debt, unlike other metrics, such as Return on
Equity (ROE).
that company's’ existence. Return on assets (ROA) is the simplest of such corporate bang-for-
the-buck measures.
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ROA is calculated by dividing a company’s net income by total assets. As a formula, it would be
expressed as:
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Return on Assets = N et Income
T otal Assets
For example, pretend Spartan Sam and Fancy Fran both start hot dog stands. Sam spends
$1,500 on a bare-bones metal cart, while Fran spends $15,000 on a zombie apocalypse-themed
unit, complete with costume. Let's assume that those were the only assets each deployed. If
over some given time period Sam had earned $150 and Fran had earned $1,200, Fran would
have the more valuable business but Sam would have the more efficient one. Using the above
formula, we see Sam’s simplified ROA is $150/$1,500 = 10%, while Fran’s simplified ROA is
$1,200/$15,000 = 8%.
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The ROA figure gives investors an idea of how effective the company is in converting the money
it invests into net income. The higher the ROA number, the better, because the company is
earning more money on less investment.
Remember total assets is also the sum of its total liabilities and shareholder's equity. Both of
these types of financing are used to fund the operations of the company. Since a company's
assets are either funded by debt or equity, some analysts and investors disregard the cost of
acquiring the asset by adding back interest expense in the formula for ROA.
In other words, the impact of taking more debt is negated by adding back the cost of borrowing
to the net income and using the average assets in a given period as the denominator. Interest
expense is added because the net income amount on the income statement excludes interest
expense
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expense.
Let's evaluate the return on assets (ROA) for three companies in the retail industry:
Macy's (M)
Kohl’s (KSS)
Dillard's (DDS)
The data in the table is for the trailing twelve months as of Feb. 13, 2019.
Due to the increasing popularity of e-commerce, brick and mortar retail companies have taken a
hit in the level of profits they generate using their available assets. Still, every dollar that Macy's
has invested in assets generates 8.3 cents of net income. Macy's is better at converting its
investment into profits, compared with Kohl’s and Dillard’s. One of management's most
important jobs is to make wise choices in allocating its resources, and it appears Macy’s
management is more adept than its two peers.
The biggest issue with return on assets (ROA) is that it can't be used across industries. That’s
because companies in one industry—such as the technology industry—and another industry
like oil drillers will have different asset bases.
Some analysts also feel that the basic ROA formula is limited in its applications, being most
suitable for banks. Bank balance sheets better represent the real value of their assets and
liabilities because they’re carried at market value (via mark-to-market accounting), or at least
an estimate of market value, versus historical cost. Both interest expense and interest income
are already factored in.
Important: The St. Louis Federal Reserve provides data on US bank ROAs, which
have generally hovered around or just above 1% since 1984, the year collection
started.
For non-financial companies, debt and equity capital is strictly segregated, as are the returns to
each: interest expense is the return for debt providers; net income is the return for equity
investors. So the common ROA formula jumbles things up by comparing returns to equity
investors (net income) with assets funded by both debt and equity investors (total assets). Two
variations on this ROA formula fix this numerator-denominator inconsistency by putting interest
expense (net of taxes) back into the numerator. So the formulas would be:
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Related Terms
LEARN MORE
Understanding Return on Average Assets
Return on average assets (ROAA) is an indicator used to assess the profitability of a firm's assets, and it is
most often used by banks and other financial institutions as a means to gauge financial performance.
more
Activity Ratios
Activity ratios measure a firm's ability to convert different accounts within its balance sheets into cash or
sales. more
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