The debt to asset ratio is the total liabilities divided by total assets. The debt/asset ratio shows the proportion of a company's assets which are financed through debt. If the ratio is less than one, most of the company's assets are financed through equity. If the ratio is greater than one, most of the company's assets are financed through debt. Companies with high debt/asset ratios are said to be "highly leveraged," and could be in danger if creditors start to demand repayment of debt.
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Importance of Debt to Asset Ratio:
The lower the Debt to Asset Ratio, the better, as companies with high amounts of debt introduce more risk. You certainly want to look very hard at companies that have more Total Liabilities than Total Assets, as this is a precarious position for a company to be in. Depending on the industry of the company, you might expect the company to have two or three times as many assets as liabilities. Anything less than this might be a signal that the company is running into trouble.