Definition of return on assets (ROA)

return on assets (ROA)

Although there is no single uniform practice for
calculating this ratio, generally it equals operating profit (before interest
and income tax) for a year divided by the total assets that are used to
generate the profit. roa is the key ratio to test whether a business is
earning enough on its assets to cover its cost of capital. roa is used for
determining financial leverage gain (or loss).

Return on assets (ROA)

Indicator of profitability. Determined by dividing net income for the past 12 months
by total average assets. Result is shown as a percentage. roa can be decomposed into return on sales (net
income/sales) multiplied by asset utilization (sales/assets).

CARs (cumulative abnormal returns)

a measure used in academic finance articles to measure the excess returns an investor would have received over a particular time period if he or she were invested in a particular stock.
This is typically used in control and takeover studies, where stockholders are paid a premium for being taken over. Starting some time period before the takeover (often five days before the first announced bid, but sometimes a longer period), the researchers calculate the actual daily stock returns for the target firm and subtract out the expected market returns (usually calculated using the firm’s beta and applying it to overall market movements during the time period under observation).
The excess actual return over the capital asset pricing model-determined expected return market is called an ‘‘abnormal return.’’ The cumulation of the daily abnormal returns over the time period under observation is the CAR. The term CAR(-5, 0) means the CAR calculated from five days before the
announcement to the day of announcement. The CAR(-1, 0) is a control premium, although Mergerstat generally uses the stock price five days before announcement rather than one day before announcement as the denominator in its control premium calculation. However, the CAR for any period other than (-1, 0) is not mathematically equivalent to a control premium.

Abnormal returns

Part of the return that is not due to systematic influences (market wide influences). In
other words, abnormal returns are above those predicted by the market movement alone. Related: excess
returns.

Acquisition of assets

A merger or consolidation in which an acquirer purchases the selling firm's assets.

After-tax real rate of return

Money after-tax rate of return minus the inflation rate.

Annualized holding period return

The annual rate of return that when compounded t times, would have
given the same t-period holding return as actually occurred from period 1 to period t.

Arithmetic average (mean) rate of return

Arithmetic mean return.

Arithmetic mean return

An average of the subperiod returns, calculated by summing the subperiod returns
and dividing by he number of subperiods.

Assets

A firm's productive resources.

Assets requirements

A common element of a financial plan that describes projected capital spending and the
proposed uses of net working capital.

Average accounting return

The average project earnings after taxes and depreciation divided by the average
book value of the investment during its life.

Average rate of return (ARR)

The ratio of the average cash inflow to the amount invested.

Cross-sectional approach

A statistical methodology applied to a set of firms at a particular point in time.

Cumulative abnormal return (CAR)

Sum of the differences between the expected return on a stock and the
actual return that comes from the release of news to the market.

Current assets

Value of cash, accounts receivable, inventories, marketable securities and other assets that
could be converted to cash in less than 1 year.

Debt service parity approach

An analysis wherein the alternatives under consideration will provide the firm
with the exact same schedule of after-tax debt payments (including both interest and principal).

Dollar return

The return realized on a portfolio for any evaluation period, including (1) the change in market
value of the portfolio and (2) any distributions made from the portfolio during that period.

Dollar-weighted rate of return

Also called the internal rate of return, the interest rate that will make the
present value of the cash flows from all the subperiods in the evaluation period plus the terminal market value
of the portfolio equal to the initial market value of the portfolio.

Ex post return

Related: Holding period return

Exante return

The expected return of a portfolio based on the expected returns of its component assets and
their weights.

Excess return on the market portfolio

The difference between the return on the market portfolio and the
riskless rate.

Excess returns

Also called abnormal returns, returns in excess of those required by some asset pricing model.

Exchange of assets

Acquisition of another company by purchase of its assets in exchange for cash or stock.

Expected future return

The return that is expected to be earned on an asset in the future. Also called the
expected return.

Expected return

The return expected on a risky asset based on a probability distribution for the possible rates
of return. Expected return equals some risk free rate (generally the prevailing U.S. Treasury note or bond rate)
plus a risk premium (the difference between the historic market return, based upon a well diversified index
such as the S&P500 and historic U.S. Treasury bond) multiplied by the assets beta.

Expected return on investment

The return one can expect to earn on an investment. See: capital asset
pricing model.

Expected return-beta relationship

Implication of the CAPM that security risk premiums will be
proportional to beta.

Financial assets

Claims on real assets.

Geometric mean return

Also called the time weighted rate of return, a measure of the compounded rate of
growth of the initial portfolio market value during the evaluation period, assuming that all cash distributions
are reinvested in the portfolio. It is computed by taking the geometric average of the portfolio subperiod
returns.

Holding period return

The rate of return over a given period.

Horizon return

Total return over a given horizon.

Incremental internal rate of return

IRR on the incremental investment from choosing a large project
instead of a smaller project.

Internal rate of return

Dollar-weighted rate of return. Discount rate at which net present value (NPV)
investment is zero. The rate at which a bond's future cash flows, discounted back to today, equals its price.

Leveraged required return

The required return on an investment when the investment is financed partially by debt.

Long-term assets

Value of property, equipment and other capital assets minus the depreciation. This is an
entry in the bookkeeping records of a company, usually on a "cost" basis and thus does not necessarily reflect
the market value of the assets.

Market return

The return on the market portfolio.

Money rate of return

Annual money return as a percentage of asset value.

Multiple rates of return

More than one rate of return from the same project that make the net present value
of the project equal to zero. This situation arises when the IRR method is used for a project in which negative
cash flows follow positive cash flows. For each sign change in the cash flows, there is a rate of return.

Net assets

The difference between total assets on the one hand and current liabilities and noncapitalized longterm
liabilities on the other hand.

Non-reproducible assets

A tangible asset with unique physical properties, like a parcel of land, a mine, or a
work of art.

Optimization approach to indexing

An approach to indexing which seeks to Optimize some objective, such
as to maximize the portfolio yield, to maximize convexity, or to maximize expected total returns.

Other current assets

Value of non-cash assets, including prepaid expenses and accounts receivable, due
within 1 year.

Portfolio internal rate of return

The rate of return computed by first determining the cash flows for all the
bonds in the portfolio and then finding the interest rate that will make the present value of the cash flows
equal to the market value of the portfolio.

Publicly traded assets

assets that can be traded in a public market, such as the stock market.

Quick assets

Current assets minus inventories.

Rate of return ratios

Ratios that are designed to measure the profitability of the firm in relation to various
measures of the funds invested in the firm.

Real assets

Identifiable assets, such as buildings, equipment, patents, and trademarks, as distinguished from a
financial obligation.

Realized return

The return that is actually earned over a given time period.

Reproducible assets

A tangible asset with physical properties that can be reproduced, such as a building or
machinery.

Required return

The minimum expected return you would require to be willing to purchase the asset, that is,
to make the investment.

Residual assets

assets that remain after sufficient assets are dedicated to meet all senior debtholder's claims in full.

Residual dividend approach

An approach that suggests that a firm pay dividends if and only if acceptable
investment opportunities for those funds are currently unavailable.

Return

The change in the value of a portfolio over an evaluation period, including any distributions made
from the portfolio during that period.

Return on equity (ROE)

Indicator of profitability. Determined by dividing net income for the past 12
months by common stockholder equity (adjusted for stock splits). Result is shown as a percentage. Investors
use ROE as a measure of how a company is using its money. ROE may be decomposed into return on assets
(roa) multiplied by financial leverage (total assets/total equity).

Return on investment (ROI)

Generally, book income as a proportion of net book value.

Return on total assets

The ratio of earnings available to common stockholders to total assets.

Return-to-maturity expectations

A variant of pure expectations theory which suggests that the return that an
investor will realize by rolling over short-term bonds to some investment horizon will be the same as holding
a zero-coupon bond with a maturity that is the same as that investment horizon.

Risk premium approach

The most common approach for tactical asset allocation to determine the relative
valuation of asset classes based on expected returns.

Riskless rate of return

The rate earned on a riskless asset.

Safety-net return

The minimum available return that will trigger an immunization strategy in a contingent
immunization strategy.

Signaling approach

Approach to the determination of the optimal capital structure asserting that insiders in a
firm have information that the market does not have; therefore, the choice of capital structure by insiders can
signal information to outsiders and change the value of the firm. This theory is also called the asymmetric
information approach.

Stratified sampling approach to indexing

An approach in which the index is divided into cells, each
representing a different characteristic of the index, such as duration or maturity.

Subperiod return

The return of a portfolio over a shorter period of time than the evaluation period.

T-period holding-period return

The percentage return over the T-year period an investment lasts.

Time-weighted rate of return

Related: Geometric mean return.

Total dollar return

The dollar return on a nondollar investment, which includes the sum of any
dividend/interest income, capital gains or losses, and currency gains or losses on the investment.
See also: total return.

Total return

In performance measurement, the actual rate of return realized over some evaluation period. In
fixed income analysis, the potential return that considers all three sources of return (coupon interest, interest
on interest, and any capital gain/loss) over some i nvestment horizon.

Unleveraged required return

The required return on an investment when the investment is financed entirely
by equity (i.e. no debt).

Variance minimization approach to tracking

An approach to bond indexing that uses historical data to
estimate the variance of the tracking error.

ASSETS

Anything of value that a company owns.

Current assets

Cash, things that will be converted into cash within a year (such as accounts receivable), and inventory.

RATE OF RETURN ON STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

The percentage return or profit that management made on each dollar stockholders invested in a company. Here’s how you figure it:
(Net income) / (Stockholders’ equity)

RATE OF RETURN ON TOTAL ASSETS

The percentage return or profit that management made on each dollar of assets. The formula is:
(Net income) / (Total assets)

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)

In its most basic form, the rate of return equals net income divided by the amount of money invested. It can be applied to a particular product or piece of equipment, or to a business as a whole.

Accounting rate of return (ARR)

A method of investment appraisal that measures
the profit generated as a percentage of the
investment – see return on investment.

Assets

Things that the business owns.

Current assets

Amounts receivable by the business within a period of 12 months, including bank, debtors, inventory and prepayments.

Fixed assets

Things that the business owns and are part of the business infrastructure – fixed assets may be
tangible or intangible.

Intangible fixed assets

Non-physical assets, e.g. customer goodwill or intellectual property (patents and trademarks).

Internal rate of return (IRR)

A discounted cash flow technique used for investment appraisal that calculates the effective cost of capital that produces a net present value of zero from a series of future cash flows and an
initial capital investment.

Return on capital employed (ROCE)

The operating profit before interest and tax as a percentage of the total shareholders’ funds plus
the long-term debt of the business.

Return on investment (ROI)

The net profit after tax as a percentage of the shareholders’ investment in the business.

Tangible fixed assets

Physical assets that can be seen and touched, e.g. buildings, machinery, vehicles, computers etc.

Target rate of return pricing

A method of pricing that estimates the desired return on investment to be achieved from the
fixed and working capital investment and includes that return in the price of a product/service.

Assets

Items owned by the company or expenses that have been paid for but have not been used up.

Intangible assets

assets owned by the company that do not possess physical substance; they usually take the form of rights and privileges such as patents, copyrights, and franchises.

Purchase returns

A contra account that reduces purchases by the amount of items purchased that were subsequently returned.

Sales returns

A contra account that offsets revenue. It represents the amount of sales made that were later returned.

current assets

Current refers to cash and those assets that will be turned
into cash in the short run. Five types of assets are classified as current:
cash, short-term marketable investments, accounts receivable, inventories,
and prepaid expenses—and they are generally listed in this order in
the balance sheet.

fixed assets

An informal term that refers to the variety of long-term operating
resources used by a business in its operations—including real
estate, machinery, equipment, tools, vehicles, office furniture, computers,
and so on. In balance sheets, these assets are typically labeled property,
plant, and equipment. The term fixed assets captures the idea that the
assets are relatively fixed in place and are not held for sale in the normal
course of business. The cost of fixed assets, except land, is depreciated,
which means the cost is allocated over the estimated useful lives of the
assets.

internal rate of return (IRR)

The precise discount rate that makes the
present value (PV) of the future cash returns from a capital investment
exactly equal to the initial amount of capital invested. If IRR is higher
than the company’s cost-of-capital rate, the investment is an attractive
opportunity; if less, the investment is substandard from the cost-ofcapital
point of view.

return on equity (ROE)

This key ratio, expressed as a percent, equals net
income for the year divided by owners’ equity. ROE should be higher than
a business’s interest rate on debt because the owners take more risk.

return on investment (ROI)

A very general concept that refers to some
measure of income, earnings, profit, or gain over a period of time
divided by the amount of capital invested during the period. It is almost
always expressed as a percent. For a business, an important ROI measure
is its return on equity (ROE), which is computed by dividing its net
income for the period by its owners’ equity during the period.

return on sales

This ratio equals net income divided by sales revenue.

Fixed Assets Turnover Ratio

A measure of the utilization of a company's fixed assets to
generate sales. It is calculated by dividing the sales for the period
by the book value of the net fixed assets.

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

The discount rate that equates the present value of the net cash
inflows with the present value of the net cash outflows
(investments). The IRR measures the profitability (rate of return) of
an investment in a project or security.

Return on Common Equity Ratio

A measure of the percentage return earned on the value of the
common equity invested in the company. It is calculated by
dividing the net income available for distribution to shareholders
by the book value of the common equity.

Return on Total Assets Ratio

A measure of the percentage return earned on the value of the
assets in the company. It is calculated by dividing the net income
available for distribution to shareholders by the book value of all
assets.

Total Debt to Total Assets Ratio

See debt ratio

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