By
Jim Royal
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More Articles
October 31, 2011
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As investors, we need to understand how our companies truly make their money. A neat trick developed for just that purpose -- the DuPont formula -- can help us do so.
The DuPont Formula can give you a better grasp on exactly where your company is producing its profit, and where it might have a competitive advantage. Named after the company where it was pioneered, the formula breaks down return on equity into three components:
Return on equity = net margin x asset turnover x leverage ratio
What makes each of these components important?
- High net margins show that a company can get customers to pay more for its products. Luxury-goods companies provide a great example here.
- High asset turnover indicates that a company needs to invest less of its capital, since it uses its assets more efficiently to generate sales. Service industries, for instance, often lack big capital investments.
- Finally, the leverage ratio shows how much the company is relying on liabilities to create its profits.
Generally, the higher these numbers, the better. That said, too much debt can sink a company, so beware of companies with very high leverage ratios.
Let's see what the DuPont formula can tell us about Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT ) and a few of its sector and industry peers:
|
Company
|
Return on Equity
|
Net Margin
|
Asset Turnover
|
Leverage Ratio
|
| Lockheed Martin |
82.2% |
6.3% |
1.32 |
10.46 |
| Raytheon (NYSE: RTN ) |
18.0% |
7.0% |
1.08 |
2.28 |
| AeroVironment (Nasdaq: AVAV ) |
12.0% |
9.4% |
1.13 |
1.13 |
| ManTech International (Nasdaq: MANT ) |
13.9% |
4.8% |
1.73 |
1.69 |
Source: S&P Capital IQ.
Lockheed puts up an enviable return on equity, but you can see that it's generated largely through very high leverage, since its margin and asset turnover are within the range of peers'. Raytheon, too, uses some leverage to boost its ROE. Despite the highest margin of this group, AeroVironment's ROE is the lowest, due in large measure to its light leverage. ManTech uses higher asset turnover to offset lower margins to achieve a respectable ROE.
Using the DuPont formula can often give you some insight into how a company is competing against peers and what type of strategy it's using to juice return on equity. To find more successful investments, dig deeper than the earnings headlines.
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