Return on Equity

Return on equity (ROE) is the measure of a company's net income divided by its shareholders' equity. ROE is a gauge of a corporation's profitability and how efficiently it generates those profits. The higher the ROE, the better a company is at converting its equity financing into profits.

Net income is calculated as the difference between net revenue and all expenses including interest and taxes. It is the most conservative measurement for a company to analyze as it deducts more expenses than other profitability measurements such as gross income or operating income.

Because net income is earned over a period of time and shareholders' equity is a balance sheet account often reporting on a single specific period, an analyst should take an average equity balance. This is often done by taking the average between the beginning balance and ending balance of equity.