StockDecksDebt to equity ratio
How much a company has borrowed compared with the money its shareholders have in the business.
How it’s calculated
Total debt ÷ shareholders’ equity. A ratio of 1.0× means the company owes as much as its shareholders’ stake is worth on the balance sheet.
How to read it
Lower means the company relies less on borrowed money, which generally leaves it more room to cope with a bad year or higher interest rates. Higher means more borrowing relative to equity. Some businesses — banks, utilities and property companies — normally carry much more debt than others, so the ratio is best compared within a sector.
When a company’s equity is negative the ratio stops making sense (it often comes from years of share buybacks rather than distress), so StockDecks leaves it unscored.
How StockDecks scores it
Lower scores better. On the general benchmark, 0× counts as strong, 1.0× as typical and 3.0× or more as weak. Banks and other financial companies, utilities and property companies are judged against their own, more debt-tolerant benchmarks.
It is one of the measures behind the Financial Health rating. Every measure, benchmark and weighting is set out on the methodology page.
Real examples
Across the 101 companies StockDecks has a page for with this figure available, as of 24 October 2026, the middle value is 0.74×.
Lowest
Shopify 0.01× · Palantir Technologies 0.02× · Taylor Wimpey 0.03×
Highest
Legal & General 9.93× · Sage 9.19× · Boeing 7.91×
Figures from Yahoo Finance, captured 24 October 2026. Being high or low on one measure says little on its own — each company page shows how this measure sits alongside the others.