How to Calculate Return on Assets for Home Depot

Return on assets shows how efficiently a company is able to use its assets in order to generate income. Investors look at this information to give an idea on how profitable the company is. In order to analyze a company, you should look at several other companies. For Home Depot, you need to obtain a copy of their financial statements because the needed data is on their balance sheet and on their income statements.

• 1

  Open the Home Depot financial statement. A copy of the 2009 financial statement is in the resources.

• 2

  Go to the income statement and find net income. In the example, the net income is $2,661, located on page 32 of the financial statement.

• 3

  Go to the balance sheet and find total assets. In the example, the net income is $40,877, located on page 33 of the financial statement.

• 4

  Divide the net income by the total assets. In the example, $2,661 divided by $40,877 equals a return on assets of 0.065.