Return on Equity (ROE)
Monte Carlo Model: A Brief Guide
Cash Flow Statement
Standard Deviation Calculator
Standard Deviation: A Brief Guide
Standard Deviation Formula
Book Value: What does it Mean?
Gross Margin
Everything You Need to Know about Gross Margin:
What is Gross Margin?
• In economics, gross margin is the difference between the production costs (excluding payroll, taxation, interest payments, and overhead) and sales revenue. Gross margin, as a result of this ratio, can be defined as the amount of contribution to a business, after paying for all direct fixed and variable costs.
• Gross margin is simply all revenue obtained by a company minus the cost of the goods sold, divided by the revenue. When expressed in absolute terms gross margin is equal to the company’s net sales minus the cost of the goods sold plus the annual sales return. Furthermore, gross margin may also be expressed as a ratio of gross profit to the cost of goods sold, typically in the form of a percentage.
• The cost of sales, used in the gross margin calculation, will include all variable costs and fixed costs of the business operation. These costs must be linked directly to the sale of the company’s product; material costs, labor, shipping costs and supplier profits are all accounted for in the cost of sales. That being said, cost of sales does not include any indirect fixed costs, such as office expenses, administrative costs, rent etc.
• As a result of these variables, a higher gross margin (for a manufacturing company) will typically reflect a greater efficiency in regards to turning raw materials into income. For a retailer, a higher gross margin reflects the company’s markup over wholesale. A larger gross margin is generally considered ideal for the majority of business entities.
How is Gross Margin used to Measure Profits?
• A retailer may measure their profit by utilizing two analytical methods: markup and margin. Both methods will give a description of gross profit; the markup expresses profit as a percentage of the retailer’s cost per product, while the margin expresses profit as a percentage of the retailer’s sales price for the product.
• The equation used to calculate the markup or the monetary value of gross margin is the following: sales-cost of goods sold.
Earnings Per Share
Everything you need to know about Earnings per Share:
What are Earnings per Share?
• Earnings per share refers to the amount of earnings per each outstanding share of a public corporation’s stock; in the United States, the Financial Accounting Standards Board requires all publicly-traded companies to produce income statements that account for earnings per share for all major categories outlined in the income statement. As a result, all publicly traded companies, in the United States of America, are required to report their earnings per share for their continuing operations, their net income, all extraordinary items on the income sheet and discontinued operations.
• Earnings per share refers to the portion of a company’s profit that is allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. When calculating a company’s earnings per share, it is better to use a weighted average number of shares outstanding because the number of outstanding shares can fluctuate over time.
How do Companies Calculate Earnings per Share?
• The earnings per share formula are different for each report; in general, the earnings per share formula will not include preferred dividends for variables outside of net income and continued operations.
• In a basic sense, the earnings per share formula will look as such:
o Earnings Per Share= Profit/ Weighted Average Common Shares
• For calculating the earnings per share of the firm’s net income, the formula will look as such:
o Earnings Per Share= Net Income-All dividends on Preferred Stock/ Average number of outstanding shares
• The earnings per share formula for continuing operations will look as such:
o Earnings Per Share= Income from Continuing Operations/Weighted Average of Common Shares
• The Earnings per Share formula will only include dividends that were actually declared (by shareholders) in the current year. In this case, all declared dividends are subtracted from the earnings per share formula. The exception to this rule is when preferred shares are cumulative, in which case all annual dividends are deducted regardless of their declaration status. Furthermore, dividends in arrears are not relevant when calculating earnings per share.