What Is an Activity Ratio?
An activity ratio is a type of financial metric that indicates how efficiently a company is leveraging the assets on its balance sheet, to generate revenues and cash. Commonly referred to as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:efficiency ratios, activity ratios help analysts gauge how a company handles 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:inventory management, which is key to its operational fluidity and o🥂verall fiscal health.
Key Takeaways
- An activity ratio broadly describes any type of financial metric that helps investors and research analysts gauge how efficiently a company uses its assets to generate revenues and cash.
- Activity ratios may be utilized to compare two different businesses within the same sector, or to monitor a single company’s fiscal health over time.
- Activity ratios can be subdivided into merchandise inventory turnover ratios, total assets turnover ratios, return on equity measurements, and a spectrum of other metrics.
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Understanding Activity Ratios
Activity ratios are most useful when employed to compare two competing businesses within the same industry, toꦰ determine how a particular company stacks up among its peers. But activity ratios may also be used to track a company’s fiscal progress over multiple recording periods, to detect changes over time. These numbers can be mapped to present a forward-looking picture of a company’s prospective performance.
Activity ratios can be broken down into the following subca🗹tegories:
Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio
The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:accounts receivable turnover ratio de♛termines an entity’s ability to collect money from its customers. Total credit sales are divided by the average accounts receivable balance for a specific period. A low ratio suggests a deficiency🙈 in the collection process.
Merchandise Inventory Turnover Ratio
The merchandise inventory turnover ratio measures how often the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:inventory balance is sold during an 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:accounting period. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:cost of goods sold (COGS) is divided by the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:average inventory for a specific period. Higher calculations suggest that a compan🎐y can move its inventory with relative ease.
Total Assets Turnover Ratio
The total assets turnover ratio measures how efficiently an entity uses its assets to tender a sale. Tota😼l sales are divided by total assets to deci൲pher how proficiently a business uses its assets. Smaller ratios may indicate that a company is struggling to move its products.
Return on Equity
A performance metric known as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:return on equity (ROE) measures the revenuesꦑ raised from shareholder equity. ROE is calculated by dividing net income by all outstand♏ing stock shares in the market.
Asset Turnover Ratio
A metric called the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:asset turnover ratio meas🐼ures the amount of revenue that a company generates per dollar of assets. This figure, which is simply calculated by dividing a company’s sales by its total assets, reveals how efficiently a company is using its assets to generate sales.
Activity Ratios vs. Profitability Ratios
Activity ratios and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:profitability ratios are both fundamental analytical tools that help investors evaluate different facets of a company's fiscal strength. Profitability ratios depict a company’s profit generation, while activity ratios measure how well a company utilizes its resources to generate those profits. Profitability ratios may help analysts compare a company’s profits with those of its ꧑industry competitors, while also trไacking the same company’s progress across several different reporting periods.
When Are Activity Ratios Most Useful?
Activity ratios are most useful when they compare two competing businesses within﷽ the same industry, to determine how a particular company stacks up among i🔯ts peers.
What Are Activity Ratio Subcategories?
Activ🔯ity ratio subcategories, described earlier in t🌟his article, are:
- Accounts receivable turnover ratio
- Asset turnover ratio
- Merchandise inventory turnover ratio
- Return on equity
- Total assets turnover ratio
How Does an Activity Ratio Differ From a Profitability Ratio?
An activity ratio measures how well a company utilizes its reღsources to genera𒁏te those profits, while a profitability ratio depicts a company’s profit generation.
The Bottom Line
An activity ratio, commonly called an efficiency ratio, indicates how efficiently a company is leveraging the assets on its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:balance sheet, to generate revenues and cash. It is a type of financial metric, and it helps analysts gauge how a company handles inventory management.