How to Calculate DuPont Analysis

To better understand a company's ROE, businesspeople and investors employ DuPont analysis tools (or return on equity). Although fundamental balance sheet information is helpful, more sophisticated ratio analysis techniques, such as this one, can provide you with a more complete picture of your company's profitability and financial health.

How Does DuPont Analysis Work?

DuPont analysis, commonly referred to as the DuPont equation or discovering your DuPont identity, is a return on equity calculation that you can use to better comprehend the asset efficiency, financial leverage, and net income margin of your business.

The DuPont Corporation, from which the formula was developed, gave it its name. The initial definition of the many equations required to perform this kind of analysis was made in 1914 by F. Donaldson Brown, one of the corporation's financial leaders. Since then, a lot of other businesses, besides DuPont, have used the same formulas with success.

The importance of DuPont analysis

By using DuPont analysis, you can better understand how your existing company model is failing or succeeding at producing a return on equity by using DuPont analysis. Using DuPont analysis, you can:

1. Examine asset utilization effectiveness. DuPont analysis helps you to understand how you're doing in terms of return on assets, in addition to offering you a detailed look at your company's return on equity (ROE) and assets (ROA). Investors are particularly interested in how effectively your business makes use of the resources it now has to generate profits.

Describe what financial leverage is. You can determine your company's overall leverage as you apply the equity multiplier in your DuPont analysis. This financial ratio enables you to assess your level of debt commitment and the effectiveness of your usage of borrowed funds for initiatives.

3. Calculate operational effectiveness. You can learn more about the operational effectiveness of your company's overall operations by comparing your net income statement to your total revenue. One of the simplest measures you can use to assess whether your business generates a sizable profit is this one.

Calculate your return on equity. The ultimate goal of a DuPont analysis is to better understand your overall return on equity by using variables related to asset utilization, financial leverage, and operating efficiency. After comparing your company to others in its industry, you can use this ROE calculation to determine how you may enhance your own position to boost earnings or attract more investors.

Formulas for Three Initial DuPont Analysis

You must first run a number of smaller calculations prior to performing a complete DuPont analysis. To get the most out of your final analysis, use these three formulas:

1. Calculating your company's asset turnover ratio is as simple as dividing your total revenue by your average total assets. Your business model and kind have a significant impact on how many assets and how much revenue you have, especially in relation to one another.

2. The equity multiplier formula: This leverage ratio aids in clarifying the equity holdings of your business. To calculate your financial leverage, divide your average assets by your shareholders' equity.

3. Formula for net profit margin: Your net profits are the money that is still available from revenue after deducting the cost of goods and other necessary expenses. Divide your net income from all sources by the total amount of revenue to get your net profit margin.

Performing a DuPont Analysis

A three-step method or a five-step model are the two ways to carry out a DuPont analysis. The latter requires more effort up front but gives you more relevant data because it includes details about your tax loads that the three-step strategy does not cover. The former offers a quicker, simpler formula with a little less detailed product. Your company's financial statements contain all the information you require to conduct either sort of analysis.

Divide revenue by the average total assets in the first step of the three-step DuPont model. the shareholders' equity by the average asset value. Next, multiply net income by total revenue. To calculate your return on equity, add these calculations together after you're done.

Divide net income by gross income before taxes for the five-step method. Divide pretax income by EBIT next (earnings before interest expenses and taxes). EBIT is then divided by revenue. Subtract revenue from the average sum of assets. the average of the shareholders' equity by the average of the total assets. To finish your DuPont analysis, multiply these factors collectively.

Example of Dupont Analysis

Let's say a store wants to perform a DuPont analysis to learn more about their ROE ratio and to have a better understanding of what can influence their overall investor valuation.

Consider that this business has $100 in net profit on $1,000 in total revenue. You can see that you have a net profit margin of 10%, or 0.1, when you divide the net income by the total revenue. Next, you can observe that this business has assets valued at $200 compared to its $1,000 in revenue. 1000 divided by 200 results in an asset turnover ratio of 5. Finally, you can see that the corporation has $200 more in equity than it does in assets. 200 divided by 200 equals 1, which is your financial leverage.

Add up all of these factors to achieve the result you need for your DuPont analysis: 0.1 x 5 x 1 = 0.5. Therefore, your return on equity is 0.5, or 5%.