What is asset turnover?

Asset turnover is the ratio of total sales or revenue to average assets. This metric helps investors understand how effectively companies are using their assets to generate sales. Investors use the asset turnover ratio to compare similar companies in the same sector or group.

What does a total turnover of a company mean?

For instance, if the total turnover of a company is 1.0x, that would mean the company’s net sales are equivalent to the average total assets in the period. In other words, this company is generating $1.00 of sales for each dollar invested into all assets.

What is fixed asset turnover ratio (fat)?

The fixed asset turnover ratio (FAT) is, in general, used by analysts to measure operating performance. This efficiency ratio compares net sales (income statement) to fixed assets (balance sheet) and measures a company's ability to generate net sales from its fixed-asset investments, namely property, plant, and equipment (PP&E).

Which sector has the highest asset turnover ratio?

The asset turnover ratio tends to be higher for companies in certain sectors than in others. Retail and consumer staples, for example, have relatively small asset bases but have high sales volume—thus, they have the highest average asset turnover ratio.