Monday, September 19, 2016

We’re all about the data here at Calcbench, and good data analytics is all about visualization. To that end, then, we’ve added another visualization tool to the world-renowned Calcbench Earnings Indicator.

The indicator is measured by surveying the quarterly values that are filed by the firms as they come into Calcbench. We take the average value of each of the three metrics and measure the difference between periods. Algebraically, this is equivalent to creating a geometrically compounded return since inception. One may also think of it as the growth of a dollar over time.

We started measuring the the earnings indicator with data from December 31, 2010. Since then, it has measured fluctuations in revenue, net income, and cash from quarter to quarter, among all public filers. Look for it in the lower right corner of our home page.

Starting this month, Calcbench has graphed graphed those quarter-to-quarter fluctuations over the last 5.5 years. The trend lines look like this:

Revenue is the blue line, cash the red, net income the green.

So we can see that profits have been more volatile. Revenue and cash, on the other hand, have plodded upward much more reliably.

What inferences can be drawn from this data? We leave that work to you. (Although we’re always curious to hear what our users think, so feel free to email us at info@calcbench.com.) Calcbench simply wants to keep pushing the limits of our offerings as much as we can. We have lots of data, which can be used lots of ways. This is one of them. If you have another idea, we would love to hear it.


FREE Calcbench Premium
Two Week Trial

Research financial & accounting data like never before. Get features designed for better insights. Try our enhanced Excel Add-in. Sign up now to try the Premium Suite.