Last Twelve Months (LTM): Definition and How It's Used in Analysis

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Last twelve months (LTM) is a measurement window covering the most recent 12 consecutive months for which a company has reported results, ending on the date of its latest financial statement. LTM revenue, LTM earnings or LTM EBITDA is the total of that metric over those 12 months, whether or not the period lines up with the fiscal year. LTM is interchangeable with trailing twelve months (TTM), the label stock quote pages often use for figures such as earnings per share (EPS) and the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.

Analysts use the window because it is current and complete. A full year contains every season once, so a retailer’s holiday quarter or a utility’s summer peak is neither missing nor counted twice. The window also rolls forward with each new quarter, dropping older results that may no longer describe the business.

How LTM Is Calculated

Companies report results by year and by fiscal quarter, not by rolling 12-month periods, so LTM figures usually have to be assembled from filed statements. Two equivalent methods work for any flow item on the income statement or cash flow statement.

Method 1: add the last four quarters. Sum the metric for the four most recently reported quarters.

Method 2: adjust the last fiscal year.

LTM = Most recent fiscal year + Current year-to-date (YTD) − Prior-year YTD for the same months

The second method is common in practice because interim reports present year-to-date figures alongside the comparable prior-year period, and it avoids backing out a fourth quarter that some companies never report separately.

The LTM period ends on the last day of the month the latest statement covers. A report for the period ending March 31, 2025, for example, produces LTM figures for April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025.

Worked Example (Hypothetical)

Take a company whose fiscal year ends December 31. It has just released its results for the six months ended June 30, 2024.

• Fiscal 2023 revenue: $480 million
• Revenue, six months ended June 30, 2024: $260 million
• Revenue, six months ended June 30, 2023: $230 million

LTM revenue = $480M + $260M − $230M = $510 million, covering July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.

The fiscal-year figure is six months out of date. The LTM figure replaces the first half of 2023 with the first half of 2024, capturing the $30 million year-over-year improvement in that half. The same arithmetic applies to net income, operating cash flow or EBITDA, provided each input is measured on the same basis.

How LTM Figures Are Used

Valuation multiples. Trailing P/E divides the current share price by LTM EPS, and enterprise value multiples such as EV/EBITDA and EV/revenue are often quoted on an LTM basis.

Comparing peers. Companies in the same industry often have different fiscal year-ends. LTM figures put each on a 12-month period ending near the same date, making comparisons of growth, margins and profitability across a sector more consistent.

Tracking trends. Recalculating LTM figures each quarter shows the direction of a business without seasonal distortion: if LTM revenue rises quarter after quarter, each new quarter has beaten the same quarter a year earlier.

Acquisitions and lending. Buyers valuing a company generally prefer LTM results to the last fiscal year because they describe the business closer to the transaction date. Credit agreements also frequently test leverage as debt divided by LTM EBITDA.

Fund and stock yields. A trailing 12-month dividend yield sums the distributions paid by a stock, mutual fund or ETF over the past year and divides by the current price. It can differ from the SEC yield, a standardized figure based on a more recent, shorter period, when distributions have changed during the year.

LTM and the Balance Sheet

The rolling-sum method only works for items that accumulate over a period. Balance sheet items such as cash, debt, equity and inventory are snapshots on a single date, so analysts use the most recent balance sheet rather than adding quarters. Ratios such as debt-to-EBITDA or return on equity pair the latest balance sheet values with LTM flow figures, though return ratios sometimes use an average of opening and closing balances.

LTM vs. Related Terms

• Fiscal year (FY): a fixed 12-month reporting period. It equals LTM only right after the annual report is filed.
• Year-to-date (YTD): covers the start of the fiscal year through the latest report date. It is shorter than 12 months for most of the year and is affected by seasonality.
• Next twelve months (NTM): a forward-looking estimate, usually based on analyst forecasts. A forward P/E uses NTM earnings, while a trailing P/E uses LTM.
• Annualized run rate: one recent quarter or month multiplied up to a year (for example, quarterly revenue × 4). It reacts faster than LTM but assumes the latest period is representative, which seasonal businesses often contradict.

Limitations of LTM

It looks backward. LTM describes results already earned. A company whose market, pricing or cost base has just changed can look very different on an NTM basis.

One-time items stay in the window. A large legal settlement, asset sale gain or restructuring charge stays inside LTM figures for four quarters. Analysts commonly adjust these out, and adjusted LTM numbers from different sources may not match.

Acquisitions and divestitures distort it. If a company bought a business mid-year, its LTM results include only the months since closing. A “pro forma” LTM figure adds the acquired company’s earlier months to show a full year of the combined business.

Mixed reporting quality. Annual statements are audited, while quarterly statements are generally reviewed rather than audited. An LTM total built from both carries that mix, and restating any included quarter changes the result.

Twelve months is a short record. One year smooths seasonality and some short-term swings but cannot capture a full economic cycle, so LTM figures are usually read next to several years of annual results and measures such as free cash flow.

The Bottom Line

LTM figures matter to investors reading trailing P/E ratios, analysts comparing peers with different fiscal year-ends, and buyers or lenders sizing up a business. They give a current, complete year of results that updates every quarter. Because LTM looks backward and can carry one-time items or partial acquisition results, it is best read alongside forward estimates, several years of annual results and measures such as free cash flow.