Why Return on Equity Is Important

Historically, one of the best ways to grow wealthy has been to own businesses that generate high returns on equity with little or no debt, paying a fair or low price for your stock. It's been an easy way to shower your family with torrents of cash.


Why Return on Equity Is Important
A business that has a high return on equity is more likely to be one that is capable of generating cash internally. For the most part, the higher a company's return on equity compared to its industry, the better. This should be obvious to even the less-than-astute investor If you owned a business that had a net worth (shareholder's equity) of $100 million dollars and it made $5 million in profit, it would be earning 5% on your equity ($5 ÷ $100 = .05, or 5%). The higher you can get the "return" on your equity, in this case 5%, the better.