plowback ratio

Plowback Rate

In fundamental analysis, the opposite of the payout ratio. That is, the plowback rate is a company's earnings after dividends have been paid out, expressed as a percentage. It is expressed mathematically as: 100 - payout ratio percentage. A higher rate indicates that a company pays less in dividends and thus reinvests more of its earnings into the company. Whether or not this is desirable depends on the rate of growth: investors tend to prefer a lower plowback ratio in a slow-growing company and a higher one in a fast-growing company.

plowback ratio

See retention rate.