JPMorgan's balance-sheet ratios, live
Why assets always equal liabilities plus equity
Assets = Liabilities + Equity
Common assets and liabilities, side by side
| Assets (what they own) | Liabilities (what they owe) |
|---|---|
| Cash and investments | Short-term debt |
| Accounts receivable | Accounts payable |
| Inventory | Long-term debt |
| Property, plants, equipment | Pension obligations (the estimated cost of the pensions the company has promised employees but not yet paid) |
| Intangibles (non-physical assets such as patents and brands; goodwill is the premium a buyer paid over the fair value of a company it acquired) | Deferred revenue |
Read a bank's balance sheet (JPM)
When growth is funded by debt
Which balance sheet is riskier?
Going deeper: three overlooked balance-sheet lines
Going deeper (optional). Up next: Three balance-sheet lines most investors miss — an advanced aside you can skip on first pass and come back to anytime. Continue when you're curious.
Going Deeper — three balance-sheet lines most investors miss. (1) Deferred revenue: cash collected for services not yet delivered; high deferred revenue is a sign of pricing power (customers paying upfront) but also a future-period revenue commitment. (2) Marketable securities: not the same as cash — they carry duration and credit risk; in a rate-rising regime, marketable-security portfolios at banks and insurers carry sizable unrealized losses that may not show up in earnings. (3) Long-term commercial paper or other short-term borrowings labeled "current portion of long-term debt": often financed rate-sensitive maturities that need to be rolled within twelve months. AI prompt: "For this company, which line on the balance sheet has changed the most as a percentage of total assets over the past three years? What does that change suggest about management strategy or business evolution?"
Sit with the ideas.
A company has $50B in assets and $30B in liabilities. What is the shareholders' equity?
Buy after reading one balance sheet
Pull up a 10-K for a company you own (or want to own). Read just the balance sheet. Note three things: total cash, total debt, and shareholders' equity. Then paper-buy 5 shares and journal whether the balance sheet made you more or less confident.
Open paper portfolio →Practice mode — simulated trades, not investment advice.