How efficiently a company turns shareholders' own money into profit.
| Company | ROE | Health Score |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Inc. | 191.4% ✓ | 47.5 |
| COCA COLA CO | 43.1% | 50.5 |
✓ = better on this metric alone (higher wins). Values refresh from live data on every request.
Return on equity is net income divided by shareholders' equity, expressed as a percentage. It measures how much profit a company generates per dollar of its own (not borrowed) capital — the closest single-number answer to "how good is this management at compounding the money that's actually theirs."
ROE = net income ÷ equity × 100. Because equity is the denominator, a company can inflate ROE simply by taking on more debt and shrinking its equity base (via buybacks or leverage) without actually running the business any better — which is why ROE should never be read alone.
Higher generally signals a more efficient, higher-quality business, but context matters: a bank's normal ROE range looks nothing like a software company's, since their capital structures are fundamentally different. Consistency over multiple years matters more than one great year.
A high ROE from heavy leverage (lots of debt, thin equity) is not the same quality signal as a high ROE from genuinely efficient operations with a healthy balance sheet — always check ROE next to the debt ratio before treating a high number as good news.
What is operating margin? What is the debt ratio? What is the P/B ratio?
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