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With An ROE Of 7.46%, Has Boston Properties Inc’s (BXP) Management Done A Good Job?

Boston Properties Inc’s (NYSE:BXP) most recent return on equity was a substandard 7.46% relative to its industry performance of 7.62% over the past year. Though BXP’s recent performance is underwhelming, it is useful to understand what ROE is made up of and how it should be interpreted. Knowing these components can change your views on BXP’s below-average returns. Today I will look at how components such as financial leverage can influence ROE which may impact the sustainability of BXP’s returns. Check out our latest analysis for Boston Properties

What you must know about ROE

Return on Equity (ROE) weighs BXP’s profit against the level of its shareholders’ equity. An ROE of 7.46% implies $0.07 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 BXP’s equity capital deployed. Its cost of equity is 8.49%. Given a discrepancy of -1.04% between return and cost, this indicated that BXP may be paying more for its capital than what it’s generating in return. ROE can be split up into three useful 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

NYSE:BXP Last Perf Nov 16th 17
NYSE:BXP Last Perf Nov 16th 17

The first component is profit margin, which measures how much of sales is retained after the company pays for all its expenses. Asset turnover reveals how much revenue can be generated from BXP’s asset base. The most interesting ratio, and reflective of sustainability of its ROE, is financial leverage. Since ROE can be inflated by excessive debt, we need to examine BXP’s debt-to-equity level. The debt-to-equity ratio currently stands at a balanced 126.36%, meaning the ROE is a result of its capacity to produce profit growth without a huge debt burden.

NYSE:BXP Historical Debt Nov 16th 17
NYSE:BXP Historical Debt Nov 16th 17

What this means for you:

Are you a shareholder? BXP’s ROE is underwhelming relative to the industry average, and its returns were also not strong enough to cover its own cost of equity. Since its existing ROE is not fuelled by unsustainable debt, investors shouldn’t give up as BXP still has capacity to improve shareholder returns by borrowing to invest in new projects in the future. If you’re looking for new ideas for high-returning stocks, you should take a look at our free platform to see the list of stocks with Return on Equity over 20%.

Are you a potential investor? If you are considering investing in BXP, looking at ROE on its own is not enough to make a well-informed decision. I recommend you do additional fundamental analysis by looking through our most recent infographic report on Boston Properties to help you make a more informed investment decision.


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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