Category Liquidity Ratios

Overview of financial ratios

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Liquidity ratios

Current ratios measure liquidity, which refers to the ability of the firm to meet its short-term debt obligations. The formula for current ratio is as follows:

Current ratio=Current assets/Current liabilities

A positive current ratio is a must. A current ratio of at least two is generally advisable. If a company has current ratio of two, it means that it has current assets which would be able to cover current liabilities twice.

Activity ratios

Total asset turnover calculates how efficiently assets are used to generate sales. In other words, how efficiently the balance sheet is managed.

Total asset turnover=Sales/Total assets

The health of this ratio is an important factor which contributes to a healthy return on investment (ROI/ROA).

Inventory turnover ratio measures the liquidity of a firm’s inventory. It measures how many times the company turns over (sells, uses or replaces) its inventory during a period, such as the financial period.

It is calculated by dividing cost of goods sold by inventory.

Inventory turnover ratio = Cost of goods sold/Inventory

The result of this ratio is only meaningful in comparison. It can be compared to industry averages, to firms past inventory turnover ratios and to inventory turnover ratios of competitors.

Industry averages differ significantly between industries for inventory turnover ratio. Inventory turnover is positive (higher than zero) as long as firm has any inventory. Generally high inventory turnover is considered to be a good indicator.

However, the norm would differ significantly between industries. If industry turnover is too high compared to the norm within the industry, it may mean the company keeps too little inventory and, therefore, may lose some sales.

Debt ratios

Debt ratio measures how many of firm’s assets are financed by debt. The formula for debt ratio is as follows:

Debt ratio=Total liabilities/Total assets

For example, assume that ABC’s total liabilities are $1,700,000 and total assets are $4,000,000. The debt ratio of ABC is as follows: $1,700,000/$4,000,000=42.5%

This means that ABC’s capital structure is 42.5% of debt and 57.5% of equity.

Debt-equity ratio measures how much of equity and how much of debt a company uses to finance its assets.

Debt-equity ratio = Total debt / Equity

If the debt-equity ratio is less than one, then it means that equity is mainly used to finance operations. However, if the debt-equity ratio is more than one, then it means that debt is mostly used for financing. If the debt-equity ratio is equal to one, then it means that half of financing comes from debt and half from equity.

The more debt compared to equity the firm uses in financing its assets, the higher the financial risk and the higher potential return. Financial risk refers to risk of firm being forced into bankruptcy if the firm does not meet its debt obligations as they come due.

Times Interest Earned Ratio (Interest Coverage Ratio)

Times Interest Earned Ratio (Interest Coverage Ratio) measures the ability of the enterprise to meet its financial obligations (interest payments on debt that come due). The formula for the Times Interest Earned Ratiois as follows:

TIER=EBIT/interest charges

EBIT refers to earnings before interest and taxes, which is also called operating profit (refer to Income Statement format to see how it is calculated).

For example, assume that ABC has an operating profit of $550,000 and interest charges of $100,000. The TIER of ABC is as follows:

$550,000/$100,000=5.5

One should also compare ratios of individual firms to industry averages, to obtain a better understanding. It is generally advisable that TIER should be between 3 and 5.

ABC’s TIER could be too high. It may be possible that the firm is unnecessarily careful in using debt as a source of capital. This means the risk the firm takes is lower than average, but so is the return.

Profitability ratios

Operating profit margin measures how much of each sales dollar remains after all costs except for interest, tax and preferred dividends are deducted.In other words it measures how efficient the business manages its operations or how efficiently the firm manages its income statement (keeping a healthy balance between sales and costs).

Operating profit margin = Operating profit/Sales

For example, if ABC has a operating profit of $500,000 and sales of $3,000,000 then the operating profit margin is calculated as follows

Operating profit margin = $500,000/$3,000,000

Operating profit margin = 0.167 or 16.7%

The higher the operating profit margin, the better it is.

Return on total assets (ROA) is also called return on investment (ROI). It refers to how effective management is in generating returns on assets of the firm.

ROA/ROI=Earnings available for common stockholders/Total assets

For example, if ABC’s total assets are $3,500,000 and the earnings available for common stockholders is $400,000 than

ROA/ROI=400,000/3,500,000

ROA/ROI=0.11

This means that for every dollar of assets, ABC earned 11 cents. The more the firm earns on every dollar of assets the better.

 

Acid-Test Ratio

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The acid-test ratio, along with the current ratio analysis, measures liquidity. Liquidity refers to the ability of the firm to meet its short-term obligations (obligations over the next 12 months) with its current assets (excluding inventory). In other words, the ratio allows us to determine the ease with which business can pay its bills as they come due. It is also sometimes referred to as the quick ratio.

A declining ratio is an indicator of declining liquidity, which usually serves as a warning of potential financial difficulties for the business. Such financial difficulties may even result in bankruptcy. The risk of bankruptcy increases further if the ratio falls significantly below 1. A ratio below 1 indicates a situation whereby current assets (excluding inventory) can no longer cover current liabilities.

The formula for the ratio is as follows:

Acid-test ratio = (Current assets – Inventory)/Current liabilities

Example of an acid-test ratio analysis

Assume Dynasties Inc. has current assets of $550,000, inventory of $300,000 and current liabilities of $300,000. The acid-test ratio of the of Dynasties Inc. is calculated as follows:

$550,000-$300,000/$300,000=0.8

This could indicate a ratio which may be too low. However, acceptable ratio values vary between industries. Therefore, the result must always be used in context via a comparison to industry averages as well as in comparison to the ratio of leading firms in the industry and Dynasties own historical ratio analysis.

Things to note about this ratio

A positive ratio is a must. A ratio of 1 or greater is generally advisable. If a company has a ratio of 1, it means that it has current assets (excluding inventory) which would be able to cover current liabilities once.

An acid-test ratio is similar to the current ratio. However, it differs from the current ratio because the former excludes inventory when calculating current assets. Inventory is excluded as it is seen as the least liquid form of current assets. Therefore, it is assumed the acid-test ratio shows a better representation of a firm’s liquidity for businesses which experience slow conversion of inventory into cash.

It is also important to note the acid-test ratio analysis ignores the timing of how quickly current assets can be converted into cash and how soon current liabilities come due. For example, imagine a situation where the business as an healthy acid-test ratio. However, most of its current assets are in accounts receivable, which can only be converted into cash in 4 months time and most of its current liabilities are due within next 30 days. In such a situation, despite a healthy acid-test ratio, a business’s liquidity may be unsatisfactory to meet short-term commitments of the business.

Lastly, as per the above, one should compare the ratios of individual firms to industry averages to obtain a better understanding. There is a large variability of ratio values between industries. This is because different industries have different operating requirements.

Current Ratio Analysis

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Current ratio analysis, along with the acid-test ratio, measures liquidity. Liquidity refers to the ability of the firm to meet its short-term obligations (obligations over the next 12 months) with its current assets (such as cash, marketable securities and inventory). In other words, current ratio analysis allows us to determine the ease with which business can pay its bills as they come due.

A declining current ratio is an indicator of declining liquidity, which usually serves as a warning of potential financial difficulties for the business. Such financial difficulties may even result in bankruptcy. The risk of bankruptcy especially increases if the current ratio falls below 1 (a point at which current assets can no longer cover current liabilities). Current ratio analyses is also sometimes referred to as working capital ratio, real ratio, cash ratio, liquidity ratio and cash asset ratio.

The formula for current ratio analyses is as follows:

Current ratio = Current assets/Current liabilities

Example of current ratio analysis

Assume Dynasties Inc. has current assets of $550,000 and current liabilities of $300,000. The current ratio of the of Dynasties Inc. is calculated as follows:

$550,000/$300,000 = 1.8

Current ratio analyses of the Dynasties Inc. could indicate that the ratio may be too low. However, an acceptable current ratio value varies between industries. Therefore, the result must always be assessed in the context of industry averages as well as to current ratios of leading firms in the industry and the Dynasties own historical current ratio analysis.

Things to note about current ratio analysis

A positive current ratio is a requirement. A current ratio of two is generally advisable. If a company has a current ratio of two, it means that it has current assets which would be able to cover current liabilities at least twice.

Current ratio analyses is similar to the acid test ratio. However, an acid-test ratio differs from current ratio because an acid-test ratio excludes inventory in calculating current assets. Inventory is excluded as it is seen as the least liquid form of current assets. Acid-test ratio shows a better representation of firm’s liquidity for businesses which experience slow conversion of inventories into cash.

It is also important to note that current ratio analyses ignores the timing of how quickly current assets can be converted into cash and how soon current liabilities come due. For example, imagine a situation where the business has a healthy current ratio. However, most of its current assets are in inventory which can only be converted into cash in 2 months time and most of its current liabilities are due within next 30 days. In such a situation, despite a healthy current ratio, a business’s liquidity may be unsatisfactory to meet the short-term commitments of the business.

Lastly, as per above, one should always compare the current ratio analyses of individual firms to industry averages, to obtain a better understanding. There is a large variability of current ratio industry averages between industries. This is because different industries have different operations requirements.