Balance Sheet

What is stockholders’ equity?

The book value of what the company’s own shareholders own.

How it is calculated

Reported stockholders’ equity from the balance sheet. It leaves out the equity that outside investors hold in subsidiaries (minority, or non-controlling, interests) and temporary equity such as redeemable preferred stock, so where either exists it is less than assets minus liabilities.

How to read it

Can be small or negative for companies that buy back a lot of stock, which makes return on equity look extreme. That is not always a problem.

Where the numbers come from

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

More Balance Sheet metrics

Total AssetsEverything the company owns or controls: cash, receivables, inventory, property, equipment and intangibles.How to read it →Current AssetsAssets expected to turn into cash within a year: cash, short-term investments, receivables and inventory.How to read it →Total LiabilitiesEverything the company owes: debt, payables, deferred revenue, leases and other obligations.How to read it →Current LiabilitiesObligations due within a year: payables, short-term debt, the current slice of long-term debt, accrued costs.How to read it →Cash & EquivalentsCash on hand and near-cash holdings such as money-market funds.How to read it →Long-term DebtBorrowings due in more than a year, such as bonds and term loans.How to read it →Total DebtAll interest-bearing borrowings: long-term debt, the part of it due within a year, and short-term borrowings such as commercial paper.How to read it →Net DebtDebt after subtracting the cash that could repay it. A negative number means the company holds more cash than debt, a net cash position.How to read it →Invested CapitalThe money tied up in running the business, from both lenders and shareholders.How to read it →GoodwillThe premium paid over the fair value of the net assets of businesses the company acquired.How to read it →Retained EarningsCumulative profits kept in the business rather than paid out.How to read it →

See it for a real company

Ten years of stockholders’ equity and every other metric on this page, for every company Scrutar covers, computed from SEC filings.

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