Asset Turnover: Formula, Calculation, and Interpretation

He is a CFA charterholder as well as holding FINRA Series 7, 55 & 63 licenses. He currently researches and teaches economic sociology and the social studies of finance at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Shaun Conrad is a Certified Public Accountant and CPA exam expert with a passion for teaching. After almost a decade of experience in public accounting, he created MyAccountingCourse.com to help people learn accounting & finance, pass the CPA exam, and start their career. Keep in mind that a high or low ratio doesn’t always have a direct correlation with performance.

Fixed Asset Turnover Ratio

For example, a cyclical company can have a low fixed asset turnover during its quiet season but a high one in its peak season. Hence, the best way to assess this metric is to compare it to the industry mean. A higher turnover ratio indicates greater efficiency in managing fixed-asset investments.

Investors monitor this ratio in subsequent years to see if the company’s new fixed assets reward it with increased sales. Its true value emerges when compared over time within the same company or against competitors in the same industry. However, differences in the age and quality of fixed assets can make cross-company comparisons challenging. Older, fully depreciated assets may result in a higher ratio, potentially giving a misleading impression of efficiency. A high turn over indicates that assets are being utilized efficiently and large amount of sales are generated using a small amount of assets. It could also mean that the company has sold off its equipment and started to outsource its operations.

The asset turnover ratio is most useful when compared across similar companies. Due to the varying nature of different industries, it is most valuable when compared across companies within the same sector. With this fixed asset turnover ratio calculator, you can easily calculate the fixed asset turnover (FAT) of a company. The fixed asset turnover is a ratio that can help you to analyze a company’s operational efficiency. Over time, positive increases in the fixed asset turnover ratio can serve as an indication that a company is gradually expanding into its capacity as it matures (and the reverse for decreases across time). One common variation—termed the “fixed asset turnover ratio”—includes only long-term fixed assets (PP&E) in the calculation, as opposed to all assets.

The company generates $1 of sales for every dollar the firm carries in assets. No, although high fixed asset turnover means that the company utilizes its fixed assets effectively, it does not guarantee that it is profitable. A company can still have high costs that will make it unprofitable even when its operations are efficient. As different industries have different mechanics and dynamics, they all fixed assets turnover ratio formula have a different good fixed asset turnover ratio.

1. Depreciation is the allocation of the cost of a fixed asset, which is expensed each year throughout the asset’s useful life.
2. Thomas’ experience gives him expertise in a variety of areas including investments, retirement, insurance, and financial planning.
3. Additionally, you can track how your investments into ordering new assets have performed year-over-year to see if the decisions paid off or require adjustments going forward.

Fixed asset turnover (FAT)

A low fixed asset turnover ratio shows that a company isn’t very efficient at using its assets to generate revenue. Fixed Asset Turnover Ratio is a great way to benchmark one company against another or against an industry average. In fact, what’s considered a “good” or “bad” ratio is very dependent on the industry.

The asset turnover ratio is used to evaluate how efficiently a company is using its assets to drive sales. It can be used to compare how a company is performing compared to its competitors, the rest of the industry, or its past performance. The fixed asset turnover ratio is intended to isolate the efficiency at which a company uses its fixed asset base to generate sales (i.e. capital expenditure). Companies with higher fixed asset turnover ratios earn more money for every dollar they’ve invested in fixed assets.

What Does an Asset Turnover of 1 Mean?

This exclusion is intentional to focus on fixed assets, but it means that the ratio does not provide a complete picture of all the resources a company uses to generate revenue. By outsourcing, a company might reduce its reliance on fixed assets, thereby improving its FAT ratio. However, this does not necessarily mean the company is performing well overall. Outsourcing could mask underlying issues such as unstable cash flows or weak business fundamentals. Fixed Asset Turnover is a crucial metric for understanding how well a company uses its fixed assets to drive revenue. It provides valuable insights for investors, analysts, and management, helping to gauge operational efficiency and inform strategic decisions.

The standard asset turnover ratio considers all asset classes including current assets, long-term assets, and other assets. The formula to calculate the total asset turnover ratio is net sales divided by average total assets. A company may have record sales and efficiently use fixed assets but have high levels of variable, administrative, or other expenses. Instead, companies should evaluate the industry average and their competitor’s fixed asset turnover ratios.

Formula and Calculation of the Asset Turnover Ratio

For some, it’s heavy on fixed assets like PP&E, while others depend mostly on current assets like cash, receivables, or inventory. Asset turnover ratios vary across different industry sectors, so only the ratios of companies that are in the same sector should be compared. For example, retail or service sector companies have relatively small asset bases combined with high sales volume. Meanwhile, firms in sectors like utilities or manufacturing tend to have large asset bases, which translates to lower asset turnover. The fixed asset turnover ratio is useful in determining whether a company uses its fixed assets to drive net sales efficiently.