They soon focused on a much smaller bank, also well-run and having similar financial characteristics in such areas as return on equity, interest margin, loan quality, etc.
Many numbers come to mind when you think about businesses: revenue, profit margin, inventory turns, return on invested capital.
Operating cahsflow margin hit 47% while return on capital reached 39%.
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For the year 2009 its operating margin was at 0.29%, return on assets was 2.91% and return on equity was 8.59%.
Shabby figures when measured up against arch rival BMW, whose operating margin was at 0.46%, return on assets was 0.20% and the return on equity was1.02%.
Its own financial position is even worse: Their 2009 operating margin stood at 2.83%, the return on assets was 4.89% and return on equity, 17.89%.
Run by Merrill veteran Robert McCann, a onetime trader who clashed with O'Neal and left for a spell in 2003, the retail group has a 26% pretax margin and earns a healthy 30%-plus return on equity.
That translates to a razor-thin 4.5% net margin- but also marks an industry-leading 30% return on equity.
"You get a lower pretax margin, but you get as high, or probably over time, a higher return on equity because its less capital-intensive, " says Napoli, referring to the Private Client unit.
For example, its return on equity has risen from 25.5% to 40.6% from 2006 to 2010 while its net margin declined just slightly from 30.8% to 30%.
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