Earnings Per Share (EPS) is defined as net income divided by the number of shares of stock issued to stockholders. Higher EPS values indicate the company is earning more net income per share of stock outstanding. Because EPS is one of the five performance measures on which your company is graded (see p. 2 of the CDJ) and because your company has a higher EPS target each year, you should monitor EPS regularly and take actions to boost EPS. One way to boost EPS is to pursue actions that will raise net income (the numerator in the formula for calculating EPS). A second means of boosting EPS is to repurchase shares of stock, which has the effect of reducing the number of shares in the possession of shareholders.

Return On Equity (ROE) is defined as net income (or net profit) divided by total shareholders’ equity investment in the business. Higher ratios indicate the company is earning more profit per dollar of equity capital provided by shareholders. Because ROE is one of the five performance measures on which your company is graded (see p. 2 of the CDJ), and because your company’s target ROE is 15%, you should monitor ROE regularly and take actions to boost ROE. One way to boost ROE is to pursue actions that will raise net profits (the numerator in the formula for calculating ROE). A second means of boosting ROE is to repurchase shares of stock, which has the effect of reducing shareholders’ equity investment in the company (the denominator in the ROE calculation).

Operating Profit Margin is defined as operating profits divided by net revenues (where net revenues represent the dollars received from camera sales, after exchange rate adjustments and any promotional discounts). A higher operating profit margin (shown on p. 5 of the CDJ) is a sign of competitive strength and cost competitiveness. The bigger the percentage of operating profit to net revenues, the bigger the margin for covering interest payments and taxes and moving dollars to the bottom-line.

Net Profit Margin is defined as net income (or net profit, which means the same thing) divided by net revenues (where net revenues represent the dollars received from camera sales, after exchange rate adjustments and any promotional discounts). The bigger a company’s net profit margin (its ratio of net income to net revenues), the better the company’s profitability in the sense that a bigger percentage of the dollars it collects from camera sales flow to the bottom-line. The net profit margin represents the percentage of revenues that end up on the bottom line.

The percentage of total production costs to net sales revenues. This ratio is calculated by dividing total production costs of cameras by net revenues (where net revenues represent the dollars received from camera sales, after exchange rate adjustments and any promotional discounts). Low percentages are generally preferable to higher percentages because they signal that a bigger percentage of the sales price for each camera is available to cover delivery, marketing, administrative, and interest costs, with any remainder representing pre-tax profit. Companies having the highest ratios of production costs to net revenues are likely to be caught in a profit squeeze, with margins too small to cover delivery, marketing, and administrative costs and interest costs and still have a comfortable margin for profit. Production costs at such companies are usually too high relative to the price they are charging (their strategic options for boosting profitability are to cut costs, raise prices, or try to make up for thin margins by somehow selling additional units).

The percentage of delivery costs for cameras to net sales revenues. This ratio is calculated by dividing total delivery costs by net revenues (where net revenues represent the dollars received from camera sales, after exchange rate adjustments and any promotional discounts). A low percentage of delivery costs to net revenues is preferable to a higher percentage, indicating that a smaller proportion of revenues is required to cover delivery costs (which leaves more room for covering other costs and earning a bigger profit on each unit sold).

The percentage of total marketing costs for cameras to net sales revenues. This ratio is calculated by dividing total marketing costs by net revenues (where net revenues represent the dollars received from camera sales, after exchange rate adjustments and any promotional discounts). A low percentage of marketing costs to net revenues relative to other companies signals good efficiency of marketing expenditures (more bang for the buck), provided unit sales volumes are attractively high. However, a low percentage of marketing costs, if coupled with low unit sales volumes, generally signals that a company is spending too little on marketing. The optimal condition, therefore, is a low marketing cost percentage coupled with high sales, high revenues, and above-average market share (all sure signs that a company has a cost-effective marketing strategy and is getting a nice bang for the marketing dollars it is spending).

The percentage of total administrative costs for cameras to net sales revenues. This ratio is calculated by dividing administrative costs by net revenues (where net revenues represent the dollars received from camera sales, after exchange rate adjustments and any promotional discounts). A low ratio of administrative costs to net revenues signals that a company is spreading its fixed administrative costs out over a bigger volume of sales. Companies with a high percentage of administrative costs to net revenues generally need to pursue additional sales or market share or risk squeezing profit margins and being at a cost disadvantage to bigger-volume rivals (although a higher administrative cost ratio can sometimes be offset with lower costs/ratios elsewhere).

The current ratio is defined as current assets divided by current liabilities. It measures the company’s ability to generate sufficient cash to pay its current liabilities as they become due. At the least, your company’s current ratio should be greater than 1.0; a current ratio in the 1.5 to 2.5 range provides a much healthier cushion for meeting current liabilities. Ratios in the 5.0 to 10.0 range are far better yet. A bolded number in the current ratio column designates the company with the best/highest current ratio; companies with shaded current ratios need to work on improving their liquidity if the number is below 1.5.

The dividend yield is defined as the dividend per share divided by the company’s current stock price. It shows what return (in the form of a dividend) a shareholder will receive on their investment in the company if they purchase shares at the current stock price. A dividend yield below 2% is considered “low” unless a company is rewarding shareholders with nice gains in the company’s stock price. A dividend yield greater than 5% is considered “high” by real world standards and is attractive to investors looking for a stock that will generate sizable dividend income. In GLO-BUS, you should consider the merits of keeping your company’s dividend payments high enough to produce an attractive yield compared to other companies. A rising dividend has a positive impact on your company’s stock price (especially if the dividend is increased regularly, rather than sporadically), but the increases need to be at least $0.05 per share to have much impact on the stock price. However, as explained below, you do not want to boost your dividend so high (just for the sake of maintaining a record of dependable dividend increases) that your dividend payout ratio becomes excessive. Dividend increases should be justified by increases in earnings per share and by the company’s ability to afford paying a higher dividend.

The dividend payout ratio is defined as the dividend per share divided by earnings per share (or total dividend payments divided by net profits—both calculations yield the same result). The dividend payout ratio thus represents the percentage of earnings after taxes paid out to shareholders in the form of dividends. Generally speaking, a company’s dividend payout ratio should be less than 75% of EPS, unless the company has paid off most of its loans outstanding and has a comfortable amount of cash on hand to fund growth and contingencies. If your company’s dividend payout exceeds 100% for several quarters and certainly for more than a year or two, then you should consider a dividend cut until earnings improve. Dividends in excess of EPS are unsustainable and thus are viewed with considerable skepticism by investors—as a consequence, dividend payouts in excess of 100% have a negative impact on the company’s stock price.

The debt-equity ratio (defined as long-term debt divided by total shareholders’ equity) indicates the extent to which the company’s long-term capital has been supplied by creditors or by shareholders. A debt-equity ratio of .33 is considered “good”. As a rule of thumb, it will take a 4-quarter average debt-equity ratio close to 0.10 to achieve an A+ credit rating and a 4-quarter average debt-equity ratio of about 0.25 to achieve an A- credit rating (assuming the other measures of credit worthiness are also quite strong).

The times-interest-earned ratio (defined here as operating profit for the last four quarters divided by net interest for the last 4 quarters) is a measure of the safety margin that creditors have in assuring that company profits from operations are sufficiently high to cover annual interest payments. A times-interest-earned ratio of 2.0 is considered “rock-bottom minimum” by credit analysts. A times-interest-earned ratio of 5.0 to 10.0 is considered much more satisfactory for companies in the digital camera industry because of quarter-to-quarter earnings volatility over each year, intense competitive pressures which can produce sudden downturns in a company’s profitability, and the relatively unproven management expertise at each company.

The debt payback capability is a measure of the number of years it will take to pay off the company’s outstanding loans based on the most recent year’s free cash flow (where free cash flow is defined as net income plus depreciation minus total dividend payments). Net income is reported on a company’s Income Statement, companywide depreciation costs are reported on the Production Cost Report, and annual dividend payments are shown on the Cash Flow Statement portion of a company’s Finance Report. The number of years to pay off the debt equals the amount of long-term debt shown on the Balance Sheet divided by free cash flow. A short debt payback period (less than 3 years) is a much stronger sign of creditworthiness and cash flow strength than a long payback period (8 to 10 years or more). If your company’s number for debt payback is bolded, then your company has the shortest payback period in the industry; if your company’s number has a shaded background, then your debt-payback period is high relative to rivals and you need to work on improving profitability and free cash flows in order to reduce the debt payback period.

A company is considered more creditworthy when its line of credit usage is small (say 5% to 15% of the total credit available) because it has less debt outstanding and greater access to additional credit should the need arise. A company’s creditworthiness is called into serious question when it has used 80% or more of its credit line, especially if it also has a long debt payback period, a relatively high debt-equity ratio, and/or a relatively low times-interest earned ratio. Generally speaking, credit analysts like to see companies using only a relatively small portion of their credit lines over the course of a year (there’s no problem of borrowing more heavily to finance the typically double production levels of the third quarter so long as most of these borrowings are repaid in the fourth quarter when the cash from high third-quarter sales is received). What troubles credit analysts most is a company that calls upon 50% or more of its credit line quarter-after-quarter, year-after-year and seems constantly on the verge of struggling to pay its debt outstanding. Companies that utilize only a small percentage of their credit lines are viewed as good credit risks, able to pay off their debt in a timely manner without financially straining their business.