Just like we all care about our personal health, managers and investors care about the health of their company. How can they perform a “check-up” on their business in order to determine its progress and financial health? Instead of weight or blood pressure, analysts use financial ratios.

The price-to-sales ratios (Price/Sales or P/S) take the company’s market capitalization (the number of shares multiplied by the share price) and divide it by the company’s total sales over the past 12 months. The lower the ratio, the more attractive the investment.

Price/Earnings To Growth, is a valuation metric for determining the relative trade-off between the price of a stock, the earnings generated per share (EPS), and the company’s expected future growth. It can be useful when looking at the future earning growth.

Asset Turnover Ratio is the amount of sales generated for every dollar’s worth of assets.

The Sharpe Ratio looks at a portfolio’s return over time, then gives it a rating based on how volatile the returns are. Portfolios with steady returns have a better Sharpe Ratio than portfolios with high returns but big swings

Current Ratio is the ratio of current assets divided by current liabilities. It provides A liquidity ratio that measures a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations. Also known as “liquidity ratio”, “cash asset ratio” and “cash ratio”.

The Asset/Equity Ratio – the ratio of total assets divided by stockholders’ equity. Higher ratio means each stock has a higher intrinsic worth – regardless of future earnings

Quick Ratio is the ratio that measures the ability of a firm to cover its current liabilities with their most liquid current assets. Quick Ratio = (Current Assets – Inventory) / Current Liabilities

Return on Equity (ROE) is used to measure how much profit a company is able to generate from the money invested by shareholders. Click on this post to see how it is calculated, what kind of ROE you should look for, and more!

PE Ratio (Price-to-Earnings) is a valuation ratio that compares the price per share of a company’s stock to its earnings per share. It basically shows how much investors are willing to pay for a share given the earnings currently generated.