Debt-to-Equity Ratio D/E
How much debt a company uses for every dollar of shareholder equity.
What it is
The debt-to-equity ratio compares what a company owes to lenders against what shareholders own. It is a core measure of financial leverage, meaning how much a company relies on borrowed money versus its own capital. A higher ratio means more reliance on debt.
Why it matters
Leverage can boost returns in good times but magnifies losses and raises the risk of distress when business slows. A D/E that looks high or low always needs context, because acceptable levels vary widely by industry: utilities and banks carry far more debt than software firms. Watch for definition differences too, since some sources use total liabilities and others use only interest-bearing debt, which changes the number a lot.
How it's calculated
Divide total debt (or total liabilities, depending on the definition) by total shareholders' equity, both taken from the balance sheet.
How Quintarthai uses it
D/E sits in the Leverage group of the Ratios tab on every company's deep-analysis page, and you can filter the North-American universe by it in the Stock Screener.