The Idiot Index

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Sector
Capital ExtractionApplied to brick-and-mortar and omnichannel retailers. COGS captures merchandise purchased for resale plus distribution, so the Markup Ratio is naturally compressed (retail margins are thin by structure); the load-bearing indicator is Labor Share, since retail employs millions…
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Capital Extraction in Retail · FY 2024

23 of 35 companies · highest first
  1. 1
    LOWLowe's
    256% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Top 2%
    2.5624
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  2. 2
    PVHPVH
    214% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Top 7%
    2.1392
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  3. 3
    RHRH
    189% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Top 11%
    1.8916
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  4. 4
    BBYBest Buy
    171% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Top 15%
    1.7074
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  5. 5
    BBWIBath & Body Works
    170% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Top 20%
    1.7000
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  6. 6
    TGTTarget
    161% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Top 24%
    1.6122
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  7. 7
    BURLBurlington
    138% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Median range
    1.3771
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  8. 8
    KRKroger
    135% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Median range
    1.3511
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  9. 9
    DGDollar General
    134% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Median range
    1.3418
    × buybacks+dividends / net income
  10. 10
    WMTWalmart
    117% of net profit returned to shareholders — funded beyond current-year earnings
    sector median 0.9729Median range
    1.1657
    × buybacks+dividends / net income

Not yet covered (12)

These companies are in the Retail cohort but don't have a Capital Extraction computed for FY 2024. Either the underlying inputs aren't tagged in their XBRL filings, the DEF 14A pay-ratio narrative didn't parse cleanly, or this fiscal year hasn't been ingested for them yet.

What this measures

Full methodology →

How much of net profit goes to shareholders rather than back into the business.

Ratio
Capital Extraction
Sector
Retail
Methodology version
v1.0.0
Formula
(Buybacks + Dividends) / NetIncome
Sector context

Applied to brick-and-mortar and omnichannel retailers. COGS captures merchandise purchased for resale plus distribution, so the Markup Ratio is naturally compressed (retail margins are thin by structure); the load-bearing indicator is Labor Share, since retail employs millions of workers and pay-ratio disclosures are politically central to the sector.

What share of after-tax profit is returned to shareholders rather than reinvested. Universal across sectors — works for banks, insurers, REITs, and utilities where the Shareholder Extraction ratio (which divides by R&D) is undefined. A value of 1.0 means 100% of net income flows back out to shareholders; above 1.0 means the company is funding shareholder returns from sources beyond current-year earnings (debt, retained cash, asset sales).

Source data: PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock, PaymentsOfDividends, NetIncomeLoss (us-gaap) or ProfitLoss (ifrs-full).