Total Debt to Total Assets

See: Acid Test. See: Quick Ratio.

It's a balance sheet ratio. Think about it. Total debt: short-term, long-term, tapped lines of credit, cash obligations...everything you owe. That's in the numerator. Then there are assets, both short-and-long-term. Short: cash in your B of A account, shares of AMZN, inventory (assuming it's liquidly sellable-ish).

And this ratio includes long-term assets as well, so it includes things like the tractor smelting factory you couldn't just quickly sell for cash. It includes long-term distribution contracts with suppliers and buyers and partners around the world, especially if those assets were acquired with cash. They carry a book value, or a value you can track. If this is a high ratio (like, you have tons of debt and few assets), that's, um...less desirable than if the ratio were small.

Like...Apple. Maybe 10 billion dollars in debt, and maybe 200 billion in assets. Now that's something to Think Different about.