Shadowing Practice: Warren Buffett: How To Analyze a BALANCE SHEET - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Warren Buffett has been analyzing businesses for more than 80 years over that time he's read thousands of annual reports and has analyzed a balance sheet countless times that experience has allowed him to create five investing rules of thumb that allow him to analyze any balance sheet
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in just a few seconds in this video I'll explain Buffett's five rules of thumb and show you how Chipotle's balance sheet Stacks up against them hi my name is Brian Feroldi I'm a financial educator who's been analyzing and investing in businesses for more than 20 years let's get started first
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let's make sure we understand what a balance sheet is a balance sheet is one of the three major financial statement that shows everything a company owns and owes to others the balance sheet is ruled by the master ACC equation that states that assets must always equal liabilities
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plus shareholders Equity these two parts of the equation must always be in Perfect Balance hence the name of the balance sheet now when it comes to analyzing a balance sheet Buffett has five main rules of thumbs that he looks for rule of thumb number one relates to the company's
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cash balance vers its debt formula here is quite simple you just take the company's cash and cash a equivalence and compare them to the company's debt his rule of thumb is that a company has more cash than debt so when looking at a balance sheet here we would take the company's cash
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and marketable securities which is $3,000 compare them to the company's debt which is $2,000 in this case this company has more cash than debt which would pass his rule why did Buffett invent this
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rule well he likes to invest in companies that are so good at producing cash that they don't need to use any debt at all to run the business so if he sees a business that has more cash than debt that's that's a positive sign Buffett's rule of thumb number two relates to the company's debt
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to equity ratio Formula here is quite simple you take the company's total liabilities and you divide it by shareholders Equity Buffett wants to see this number below 0.8 so when
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looking at this company its total liabilities is $44,000 we would take that and we would divide it by the company's total equity which in this case is $122,000 that would give us a debt to equity
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ratio of 0.33 which is below Buffett's 0.8 figure now what is this of thumb me well Buffett likes to invest in companies that produce so much cash that they finance themselves with Equity not with
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debt when a company has a debt to equity ratio below 0.8 that tells him that the company has financed itself with equity and has largely been able to avoid debt rule of thumb number three relates to preferred stock the formula here couldn't be simpler the preferred stock equals
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zero so his rule of thumb is that a company does not have any preferred stock on its balance sheet now every balance sheet you see will have its own layout in terms but generally speaking preferred stock will be one of the first line items that you see in shareholders equity in this case here
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this company does not have any preferred stock listed which would be a good thing in Buffett's eye now why does Buffett have this rule of thumb in place well preferred stock is a bit of a hybrid between debt and equity and generally speaking strong companies never have to issue preferred
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stock to fund themselves so Buffett wants to see that a company does not have any preferred stock at all which indicates to him that the company is a financial Powerhouse that brings us to rule of thumb number four which is about retained earnings and specifically retained earnings growth Buffett
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likes to compare a company's retained earnings in the most recent period to the retained earnings in the last period and his rule of thumb is that this number consistently grows especially during recessions now to find this number we simply look in the shareholders Equity section of the balance
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sheet for a figure that's called retained earnings we want to see that this figure is positive and is larger than the same figure in the year ago period now why does he have this rule of thumb in place well if retained earnings is growing that means that the company is producing profits and it's
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also keeping a portion of that profits to reinvest in the business so if this number is consistently growing especially during periods of economic stress that is a very strong sign for investors
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okay rule of thumb number five relates to the company's treasury stock so the rule of thumb here is that the company has some treasury stock NOW treasury stock is found in the shareholders Equity portion of the balance sheet and in this case it's listed as zero but what is treasury
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stock Treasury stock is simply the cumulative amount of stock BuyBacks that a company has repurchased from its shareholders so Buffett wants to see that this figure is positive which indicates to him that the company is returning Capital to shareholders through stock BuyBacks
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now I just threw a bunch of information at you but I also made a simple PDF download that has all of Warren Buffett's financial statement rules of thumb on them if you want a free copy just visit longterm mindset. back/ Buffett or click the link in the video description now
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that we know Buffett's rules of thumb let's take a look at a real balance sheet to see these rules of thumb and action in this case I'm going to take a look at Chipotle's balance sheet to see these numbers in action so I've loaded Chipotle stock symbol CMG into finat and if I
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scroll down I click on balance sheet and here we have the company's balance sheet listed now in the most recent period this company had about $1.42 billion in cash and short-term Investments
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on its balance sheet that's quite good but how does that compare to the company's debt level well I'm going to click over to the company's liabilities and if I scroll my eyes down here I actually don't see the word debt listed anywhere that tells me that this company has a debt-free
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balance sheet so when it comes to rule of thumb number one this company has tons of cash zero debt it passes Buffett's test that brings us to rule of thumb number two the company's debt to equity
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ratio now to locate this number I'm going to go to finat scroll down to the ratios Tab and then click on Financial Health down here I'm going to see the company's debt to equity ratio which is currently
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1.2 now as a reminder Buffett wants to see this figure below 0.8 so on this test the company fails however this is where some Nuance needs to be applied remember that the debt to equity
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ratio takes the company's total liabilities and divides by the company's total Equity if you look at the company's total liabilities they're five billion however the company's largest liability is
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actually this long-term leases of $3.9 billion now personally I don't view this number as a problem on a company's balance sheet it simply means that chipotle has signed sign some leases and
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it's going to need to pay that rent in the years ahead so while some calculators consider this to be debt I do not so that's thing number one thing number two is if we click over to the company's
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Equity section we'll notice that this company only has $3.3 billion in total Equity however we see that the company's treasury stock which is stock that it has repurchased from shareholders
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is5 billion that is actually pulling this number down so if we adjust for the company's long-term leases and its Tre treasury stock the company's debt to equity ratio would actually be far below
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the 0.8 figure so while you might disagree with me I am personally going to give this company a check on this figure the next number here to look at is preferred stock and we want to see if this company does not have any so in finat we scroll down to the balance sheet we click over to
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equity and we're looking for the word here to be preferred stock now I don't see that word anywhere on here which means that chipotle does not have any preferred stock that's exactly what Buffett wants to see so I would give this figure a che as well the fourth number on Buffett's rules
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of thumb is retained earnings growth we want to track how this company's retained earnings have been progressing over the last couple of years now on finat retained earnings is kept in the balance sheet and then Equity section and we can actually click this number right here finat will actually
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automatically graph this figure and what we can see is that this number is consistently growing in fact if we widen this out to a longer time period we can see that chipotle has consistently grown its retained earnings for many years in a row including during 2020 and 2021 which
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were challenging periods for a lot of companies especially restaurants for that reason Chipotle passes this test too the final number here to look at is the company's treasury stock which is the amount of stock BuyBacks Buffett wants to see that this treasury stock number exists now
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treasury stock can be found in the balance sheet and then Equity portion and as we saw before this company has spent more than $5 billion buying back stock and this figure has actually increased over
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the year now it's recorded as a negative number but this just means that the company has actively bought back stock from investors so one thinking about Buffett's rule of thumb checklist Chipotle passes this test too so there you have it knowing these five simple balance sheet rules of thumb
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can make it much easier for anyone to analyze a balance sheet if this video was helpful give it the like button and let me know in the comment section below see you in the next video Brian out
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Context & Background
In the video titled "Warren Buffett: How To Analyze a BALANCE SHEET," financial educator Brian Feroldi shares insights drawn from Warren Buffett's extensive experience analyzing businesses over more than eight decades. Buffett's wisdom is distilled into five key rules of thumb that enable investors to quickly assess a company's balance sheet. Understanding these principles can significantly enhance your financial vocabulary and comprehension of business discussions. This session is not just for investors but also serves as an engaging medium to improve your English speaking practice, specifically in financial literacy.
Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication
- Cash and cash equivalents: Refers to the company's available cash and short-term investments.
- Debt to equity ratio: A measure of a company's financial leverage, calculated by dividing total liabilities by shareholders' equity.
- Preferred stock: A type of equity security that typically has priority over common stock in dividend payments.
- Retained earnings: Profits that are reinvested in the business instead of being paid out to shareholders.
- Treasury stock: Shares that a company has repurchased from shareholders, reducing the number of outstanding shares.
Step-by-step Shadowing Guide
To effectively employ the shadowing technique while absorbing the content of this video, follow these steps:
- Watch the Video: Begin by watching the video once without distractions to grasp the overall message and context. This will help you familiarize yourself with the specific financial terminology that Brian uses.
- Listen Closely: Play the video again, this time concentrating on Brian's pronunciation, intonation, and pace. Pause when necessary to ensure you can accurately mimic what he says.
- Repeat Aloud: Utilize the shadowing app or your recording device to repeat phrases right after Brian finishes speaking. This will help improve your fluency and enhance your English pronunciation skills.
- Practice Vocabulary: Choose a few key phrases, such as "debt to equity ratio" or "retained earnings," and practice using them in your sentences. Integrate these concepts into daily financial conversations to solidify your understanding.
- Seek Feedback: If possible, engage a friend or use language learning communities to get feedback on your pronunciation and use of terminology, thus enriching your English speaking practice.
Combining the shadowing technique with rich, educational content like this video is a powerful way to enhance your skills. Engaging with financial discussions in English will not only increase your vocabulary but also bolster your confidence in discussing complex topics. So, immerse yourself in this learning process and witness your progress in real-time!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | has been analyzing · have been progressing |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has analyzed · has financed · has repurchased |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is ruled · is found · be applied |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | securities which is · four which is · ratio which is |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.