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How GlaxoSmithKline plc (LON:GSK) Delivered A Better ROE Than Its Industry

With an ROE of 62.17%, GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE:GSK) outpaced its own industry which delivered a less exciting 10.03% over the past year. On the surface, this looks fantastic since we know that GSK has made large profits from little equity capital; however, ROE doesn’t tell us if management have borrowed heavily to make this happen. In this article, we’ll closely examine some factors like financial leverage to evaluate the sustainability of GSK’s ROE. See our latest analysis for GlaxoSmithKline

Breaking down Return on Equity

Return on Equity (ROE) is a measure of GlaxoSmithKline’s profit relative to its shareholders’ equity. An ROE of 62.17% implies £0.62 returned on every £1 invested. While a higher ROE is preferred in most cases, there are several other factors we should consider before drawing any conclusions.

Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders Equity

ROE is measured against cost of equity in order to determine the efficiency of GlaxoSmithKline’s equity capital deployed. Its cost of equity is 8.30%. This means GlaxoSmithKline returns enough to cover its own cost of equity, with a buffer of 53.87%. This sustainable practice implies that the company pays less for its capital than what it generates in return. ROE can be dissected into three distinct ratios: net profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. This is called the Dupont Formula:

Dupont Formula

ROE = profit margin × asset turnover × financial leverage

ROE = (annual net profit ÷ sales) × (sales ÷ assets) × (assets ÷ shareholders’ equity)

ROE = annual net profit ÷ shareholders’ equity

LSE:GSK Last Perf Feb 22nd 18
LSE:GSK Last Perf Feb 22nd 18

Essentially, profit margin shows how much money the company makes after paying for all its expenses. Asset turnover reveals how much revenue can be generated from GlaxoSmithKline’s asset base. And finally, financial leverage is simply how much of assets are funded by equity, which exhibits how sustainable the company’s capital structure is. Since ROE can be inflated by excessive debt, we need to examine GlaxoSmithKline’s debt-to-equity level. Currently the debt-to-equity ratio stands at more than 2.5 times, which means its above-average ROE is driven by significant debt levels.

LSE:GSK Historical Debt Feb 22nd 18
LSE:GSK Historical Debt Feb 22nd 18

Next Steps:

ROE is a simple yet informative ratio, illustrating the various components that each measure the quality of the overall stock. GlaxoSmithKline exhibits a strong ROE against its peers, as well as sufficient returns to cover its cost of equity. With debt capital in excess of equity, ROE may be inflated by the use of debt funding, raising questions over the sustainability of the company’s returns. Although ROE can be a useful metric, it is only a small part of diligent research.

For GlaxoSmithKline, there are three relevant aspects you should look at:


To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.

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