what is the plowback ratio 
the plowback ratio is a fundamental analysis ratio that measures how much earnings are retained after dividends are paid out it is most often referred to as the retention ratio the opposite metric measuring how much in dividends are paid out as a percentage of earnings is known as the payout ratio the formula for the plowback ratio isthe plowback ratio is calculated by subtracting the quotient of the annual dividends per share and earnings per share eps from 1 on the other hand it can be calculated by determining the leftover funds upon calculating the dividend payout ratio text retention ratio frac text net income text dividends text net income retention ratio net incomenet income dividends on a per share basis the retention ratio can be expressed as 1 dividends per share eps 1 frac text dividends per share text eps 1 epsdividends per share for example a company that reports 10 of eps and 2 per share of dividends will have a dividend payout ratio of 20 and a plowback ratio of 80 