Home Blog Equity Multiplier (Overview: Definition, Formula, Ratio, Analysis)

Equity Multiplier (Overview: Definition, Formula, Ratio, Analysis)

What is Equity Multiplier?

What is the formula and what does it measure?

What are the essential elements you should know!

Keep reading as we have gathered exactly the information that you need!

Let’s dig into our financial analysis knowledge!

Are you ready?

Let’s get started!

What Is Equity Multiplier

The equity multiplier (also referred to as “EM” or “leverage ratio”) is a financial indicator allowing you to assess the proportion of a company’s assets acquired through equity as opposed to debt.

In essence, by calculating a company’s equity multiplier or looking at its equity multiplier ratio, a business stakeholder, investor, or lender is looking to measure the company’s risk profile.

The higher the asset to equity ratio, the more a company is leveraged through debt.

The lower the asset over equity ratio, the more a company is financed through the issuance of equity and thus relies less on debt.

To have a better perspective of a company’s risk profile, the equity multiplier is generally considered in comparison to the company’s historical performance.

The company’s EM ratio can also be compared to industry peers, the industry average, or even a specific market segment.

Equity Multiplier Definition

According to Investopedia, the equity multiplier is defined as:

The equity multiplier is a risk indicator that measures the portion of a company’s assets that is financed by stockholder’s equity rather than by debt.
Author

The definition is quite simple and can be summarized as follows:

  • It’s a risk indicator
  • Measures a company’s source financing through equity or debt 

Equity Multiplier Formula 

The equity multiplier formula is essentially a company’s total assets divided by the company’s total shareholders’ equity.

The formula can be depicted as follows:

Equity Multiplier = Total Assets / Shareholder Equity 

The higher the “equity multiplier” the more a company is financed through debt.

The lower the asset over equity result, the less a company is financed through debt and is more financed through equity.

Equity Multiplier Ratio 

Understanding the manner a business is financed is crucial for the business operators in running a profitable business and for investors to assess a company’s risk profile.

For companies to acquire assets and conduct business, they will need to either finance their activities by injecting their own equity, issuing debt, or any possible combination of the two.

In essence, the equity multiplier ratio is an indicator revealing how much a company has purchased its total assets through stockholder’s equity.

If the EM ratio results in a high number, it means that the company in question is financed more heavily using debt.

In other words, the company will need to generate a more consistent and steady profit to be able to meet its debt payment obligations (or debt service).

On the other hand, if a company’s EM is low, it means that the company does not have as many assets financed through debt.

This is positive news as the company’s debt servicing costs may be lower and the company will not need to have a minimum profitability to be able to meet its debt payments.

However, an investor may also deduce that the company may have difficulty raising debt which can be caused by poor credit or other factors preventing the company from taking on debt financing.

Calculate Equity Multiplier Example

Let’s calculate a company’s equity multiplier by using a fictional example to get a better sense of the financial concept.

Imaging that a company has a total asset of $1,000,000 on its balance sheet and $200,000 in shareholder’s equity.

The company’s equity multiplier is therefore $1,000,000 divided by $200,000 equalling 5.

This means that for every one dollar of equity, the company has four dollars of debt leverage.

This ratio can be compared to the company’s year-over-year progress or to the ratio of its direct competitors in its industry.

There’s no “good” or “bad” equity multiplier ratio.

Generally, this ratio is considered along with other ratios for an investor or individual to get an overall understanding of a company’s financial position. 

Calculating Debt Ratio 

You can use the “equity multiplier formula” or “equity multiplier ratio” to calculate a company’s debt ratio.

The debt ratio is a company’s total debt divided by its total assets.

The debt ratio formula can be depicted as follows:

Debt Ratio = Total Debt / Total Assets

To calculate the debt ratio using the equity multiplier measure, you can use the following formula:

Debt Ratio = 1 – (1 / Equity Multiplier)

With this equation, you can use the formula for equity multiplier to derive a company’s debt ratio.

DuPont Analysis 

The DuPont Analysis is named after the DuPont company who developed this financial assessment model.

The DuPont model breaks down return on equity (ROE) into three parts:

  • Net profit margin
  • Asset turnover
  • Equity multiplier

DuPont can therefore calculate the impact on the company’s net income (ROE) based on variations to the equity multiplier.

Here is how the Return on Equity formula is depicted:

ROE = NPM X TATR X FLR

  • ROE = Return on Equity
  • NPM = Net Profit Margin
  • TATR = Total Assets Turnover Ratio
  • FLR = Financial Leverage Ratio

Leverage Multiplier Takeaways 

So, what does equity multiplier mean?

How to calculate equity multiplier?

What does the equity multiplier measure?

Let’s look at a summary of our findings.

What Is The Equity Multiplier

  • Equity multiplier is a measure of a firm’s assets financed through equity showing how much equity is used to acquire assets
  • Conversely, it’s a financial leverage ratio allowing you to calculate how much of a firm’s asset is financed through debt
  • It provides an investor, creditor or business stakeholder an indication of risk
  • The equity multiplier formula uses two variables: total assets and total shareholder’s equity 
  • EM is an important part of the DuPont analysis representing a financial assessment model developed by the company DuPont
Balance sheet
Cash flow statement
Debt capacity 
Dupont analysis 
Dupont identity 
Economic conditions 
EM Finance
Financial leverage ratios 
Leverage multiplier 
Profit and loss statement 
Stock repurchase
Author
Asset to equity ratio
Asset turnover ratio 
Corporate bonds
Debt ratio
Debt-to-equity ratio (D/E)
Leverage ratio 
Liquidity ratios 
Net profit margin (NPM)
Return on equity (ROE)
Shareholder equity ratio
Total-debt-to-total-assets 
Weighted average cost of capital (WACC)
Author

Editorial Staff
Hello Nation! I'm a lawyer by trade and an entrepreneur by spirit. I specialize in law, business, marketing, and technology (and love it!). I'm an expert SEO and content marketer where I deeply enjoy writing content in highly competitive fields. On this blog, I share my experiences, knowledge, and provide you with golden nuggets of useful information. Enjoy!

Most Popular

What Is A Special Purpose Entity (All You Need To Know)

What Is A Special Purpose Entity (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is Corporate Raiding (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is Corporate Raiding (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Are Golden Shares (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Are Golden Shares (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is A Targeted Repurchase (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is A Targeted Repurchase (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is A Friendly Takeover (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is A Friendly Takeover (Explained: All You Need To Know)

Editor's Picks

Cash Trap (Definition: All You Need To Know)

Cash Trap (Definition: All You Need To Know)

Incorporate (Business Ultimate Guide: Crucial Things You Need Know)

Incorporate (Business Ultimate Guide: Crucial Things You Need Know)

Tolling Agreement (Legal Definition: All You Need To Know)

Tolling Agreement (Legal Definition: All You Need To Know)

What Is A Ton of Money (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is A Ton of Money (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is Crown Jewel Defense (Explained: All You Need To Know)

What Is Crown Jewel Defense (Explained: All You Need To Know)