ROE (Return on Equity)
A profitability metric showing what percentage of profit a company earned in a year on the capital shareholders put in (shareholders' equity).
ROE = Net income (TTM) ÷ Shareholders' equity × 100
A higher ROE is generally read as better use of equity, but if a company uses a lot of debt, its equity base shrinks and ROE can look inflated even on the same profit.
In plain terms
If you put in $50,000 to open a shop and earned $10,000 in a year, you made 20% on your own money. That 20% is ROE.
In stocks, it looks at "what percentage of profit the company earned in a year on the money shareholders have put into it (shareholders' equity)." The higher the ROE, the more efficiently shareholders' money was put to work. It is also known as the metric Warren Buffett looks at most.
The filled part is what was earned in a year. With the same money in, a longer fill means that money was put to work more efficiently.
Debt is not in this bar — profit made with heavy borrowing fills it just the same, Placing the debt ratio next to it separates where that return came from.
The figures belong to a made-up company, Example Inc. Every picture in this glossary uses the same company, so you can see how the metrics connect.
What it tells you
ROE shows in a single number "how well this company grows shareholder capital." If an ROE of 15% is sustained, it means the company has the potential to put earnings back into the business and grow shareholder value each year at close to that rate.
That's why, for long-term investors, a "consistently high ROE" is treated as one of the key marks of a good business. But the meaning changes depending on where that height came from — that's the pitfalls part below.
Formula
ROE = Net income (TTM) ÷ Shareholders' equity × 100
What high or low means
A higher ROE is generally read as better use of equity, but if a company uses a lot of debt, its equity base shrinks and ROE can look inflated even on the same profit.
So within a single ROE figure, the part that comes from business strength and the part that comes from borrowing are mixed together.
A high ROE means different things depending on where it came from. ROE is the product of roughly three things — ①how much is left over from sales ②how briskly assets are turned over ③how much debt is used. Raising only ③ debt is enough to lift ROE. So a 20% ROE at a heavily indebted company and a 20% ROE built without debt are completely different in quality. When ROE is high, looking at debt-to-equity ratio and ROIC alongside it reveals the source (Stocklore's context reading walks through exactly this cross-check automatically).
Large buybacks reduce equity (the denominator), so ROE rises mechanically. This can be the effect of a smaller denominator rather than an improving business, so the answer lies in why equity is at that level.
For a company whose equity is near zero or negative after large losses, ROE becomes abnormally large or cannot be calculated. The ROE figure has no meaning in such cases.
Metrics to read alongside
See it in real stocks
Search US stocks on Stocklore to see ROE alongside the sector benchmark.
This explanation is for information and reference only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investment decisions and their consequences are your own.