Margins & Ratios

What is the debt-to-equity ratio?

How much the company relies on borrowed money relative to equity.

How it is calculated

Total debt divided by total equity. Total debt is long-term debt, its current portion and short-term borrowings; equity includes the equity outside investors hold in subsidiaries.

How to read it

Higher means more leverage and more risk in a downturn. Norms vary widely by industry, so compare with peers.

Keep in mind

Lease liabilities are not counted as debt. Some providers include them, which raises the ratio for retailers and airlines.

Where the numbers come from

Scrutar computes the debt-to-equity ratio from the figures each company reports to the SEC in its annual and quarterly filings, using the XBRL data attached to those filings.

More Margins & Ratios metrics

Gross MarginThe share of each dollar of revenue left after the direct cost of what was sold.How to read it →Operating MarginThe share of revenue that becomes operating profit after all running costs.How to read it →Net MarginThe share of revenue that ends up as net income.How to read it →Return on EquityProfit earned for each dollar of shareholder equity.How to read it →Return on AssetsProfit earned for each dollar of assets the company controls.How to read it →Current RatioWhether near-term assets cover near-term obligations.How to read it →Quick RatioWhether the company can cover its near-term bills without selling inventory.How to read it →Asset TurnoverHow much revenue each dollar of assets generates.How to read it →

See it for a real company

Ten years of the debt-to-equity ratio and every other metric on this page, for every company Scrutar covers, computed from SEC filings.

Browse companies