Eight S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report earnings on Friday to kick off the earnings season, but the primary focus will be bank earnings. There are a handful of other companies on Friday’s calendar, like Delta
DAL
Air Lines (DAL), BlackRock
BLK
(BLK), and UnitedHealth (UNH). Among the banks reporting are JPMorgan Chase
JPM
(JPM), Citigroup
C
(C), Bank of New York Mellon
BK
(BK), Wells Fargo
WFC
(WFC), and Bank of America
BAC
(BAC).

• YOY calculations can aid in identifying these patterns and you gain insights into underlying trends.
• YOY is used to make comparisons between one time period and another that is one year earlier.
• Acorns Checking Real-Time Round-Ups® invests small amounts of money from purchases made using an Acorns Checking account into the client’s Acorns Investment account.
• By employing YOY analysis, one can gain valuable insights into financial performances, identify opportunities for improvement, and adapt strategies accordingly.

This article delves into the concept of Year-over-Year (YOY), establishing its connection with related terms like YTD and MoM. Additionally, it offers illustrations of YOY analysis to enhance understanding. Month-over-Month (MoM) analysis compares the performance of a metric or variable from one month to the previous month within the same year.

Alternatives to YoY analysis

This can help decision-makers identify whether a decline in sales is due to a decrease in demand or if it’s just a natural part of the business cycle. Year Over Year (YOY) is the percentage change in a specific metric from one year to the next. The metric can be sales volume, revenue, profit, number of new customers acquired, or any other quantifiable metric. The growth rate for larger companies is usually lower compared to smaller companies.

• This can help management form strategies and decisions regarding the upkeep or removal of a sales component.
• The main benefit of YoY growth analysis is how easy it is to track and compare growth rates across several periods.
• Significant cash reserves have helped Microsoft successfully venture into cloud computing, video games, artificial intelligence (AI), consumer products, and more.
• To find the comparison over time, you compare the data from a specific year against the year prior.
• Year-over-year analysis is used to compare the results in one period, such as a month, with the same period in the previous year.

Having all of this information will allow you to make more informed business decisions. YOY comparisons are popular when analyzing a company’s performance because they help mitigate seasonality, a factor that can influence most businesses. Sales, profits, and other financial metrics change during different periods of the year because most lines of business have a peak season and a low demand season.

One advantage of a year-over-year measurement is that it takes out fluctuations that may occur monthly. Invest, an individual investment account which invests in a portfolio of ETFs (exchange traded funds) recommended to clients based on their investment objectives, time horizon, and risk tolerance. You can determine the YoY growth rate by subtracting last year’s revenue number from this year’s revenue number. A positive result shows a YoY gain, and a negative number shows a YoY loss. Divide that result by last year’s revenue number to get the YoY growth rate.

Formula for Calculating Year-over-Year Growth (YOY)

Learn financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel shortcuts. Alternatively, another method to calculate the YoY growth is to subtract the prior period balance from the current period balance, and then divide that amount by the prior period balance. For example, suppose a company’s revenue has grown from $25 million in Year 0 to $30 million in Year 1.

Year-Over-Year (YOY) Definition, Formula & Calculation

Still, it can also be used to describe yearly changes in an economy’s money supply, GDP, and other economic measurements. Economic analysts also commonly use this approach when analyzing countries and their overall economic situation. For example, the YoY approach reveals that the Japanese GDP increased by 2% in 2016 compared to 2015, whereas analysts had previously predicted a 1.8% increase. Suppose an investor compares a retailer’s fourth-quarter results to the prior third-quarter results.

The year over year percentage change is the figure by which year over year growth is measured. ‘Save and Invest’ refers to a client’s ability to utilize the Acorns Real-Time Round-Ups® investment feature to seamlessly invest small amounts of money from purchases using an Acorns investment account. Custom Portfolios are non-discretionary investment advisory accounts, managed by the customer. Custom Portfolios are not available as a stand alone account and clients must have an Acorns Invest account. Clients wanting more control over order placement and execution may need to consider alternative investment platforms before adding a Custom portfolio account.

Year-Over-Year (YOY): What It Means, How It’s Used in Finance

Understanding how to use accurate comparisons for financials will bring several benefits. YOY calculations help look into and find information about the financial performance of your business. Essentially, it allows you to get a better sense of business growth and cash flow growth.

An excellent example of this is Meta’s (formerly Facebook) 2021 financial highlights from its investor page. The statement shows the year-over-year changes for a three-month period from the end of 2021 and the period December 2020 to December 2021. Another cost of goods sold definition issue with year-over-year calculations is that they can’t fully explain the details behind economic or business growth. Year-over-year measures reveal trends, but they don’t provide enough information to explain why these trends are occurring.

Each alternative approach has its advantages and limitations, and businesses may use a combination of these methods to gain comprehensive insights into their performance and trends. Sequential growth compares data from one period to the immediately preceding period, regardless of whether it is a month, quarter, or year. Overall, YOY analysis is a valuable tool for businesses to gain meaningful insights into their performance, track progress, make strategic decisions, and plan for the future.

For example, suppose you are evaluating the interim financial statements for a tenant and notice declining year-over-year growth. At the same time, you know that the tenant just won a large multi-year contract with the IRS that will provide stable revenue over the next 10 years. Moving averages are used to smooth out fluctuations in data by calculating the average over a specific number of periods. For larger companies, a YOY growth rate in the range of 5% to 10% might be considered healthy and stable. These companies may face more significant challenges in achieving high growth rates due to their size and market saturation.

Whatever the financial category, as long as it can be measured over a standard length of time, it can be evaluated on a year-over-year basis. Erika Rasure is globally-recognized as a leading consumer economics subject matter expert, researcher, and educator. She is a financial therapist and transformational coach, with a special interest in helping women learn how to invest. The information contained on this website should not considered an offer, solicitation of an offer or advice to buy or sell any security or investment product. Comparisons are based on the national average Annual Percentage Yields (APY) published in the FDIC National Rates and Rate Caps as of October 16, 2023. Nancy Mann Jackson is an award-winning journalist who specializes in writing about personal finance, real estate, business and other topics.