What Does TTM Mean? Trailing 12 Months in Financial Reporting

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TTM stands for trailing twelve months: a company’s financial results for the most recent 12 consecutive months it has reported, regardless of where its fiscal year ends. If a company has just released results for the quarter ending June 30, its TTM figures cover July 1 of the previous year through June 30 of the current year. The term is also written as LTM (last twelve months), which means the same thing.

What TTM measures

Annual reports cover a fixed fiscal year, so their figures can be up to a year old by the time the next annual report arrives. Quarterly reports are more recent, but one quarter on its own can mislead, because many businesses have strong and weak seasons. TTM combines the two strengths: it is as current as the latest quarterly filing, and it still spans a full year of operations.

The label shows up wherever recent full-year performance matters. Stock quote pages and screeners commonly show “EPS (TTM),” “P/E (TTM)” or “Revenue (TTM).” Fund fact sheets list a “TTM yield” or “12-month yield.” Lenders and buyers of private companies often look at LTM EBITDA when sizing debt or valuation multiples.

A frequent source of confusion is which months are included. The window is set by the most recent completed and reported period. Between earnings releases, the TTM figure does not change, even though calendar months pass.

How to calculate TTM

The method depends on the type of line item.

Flow items: income statement and cash flow

Revenue, cost of goods sold, operating income, net income, EBITDA, capital expenditures and free cash flow all measure activity over a period. Their TTM value is a sum:

TTM = most recent quarter + the three quarters before it

There is a practical complication. U.S. public companies file quarterly reports for the first three quarters and an annual report for the full year, so the fourth quarter often appears only inside the annual total. The standard workaround uses year-to-date figures:

TTM = latest full fiscal year + current year-to-date − prior-year year-to-date (same period)

Stock items: the balance sheet

The balance sheet reports values at a single date: cash, inventory, total debt, shareholders’ equity. Summing four quarter-end debt balances would count the same borrowing four times, so a “TTM total debt” figure is generally the most recent quarter-end balance. When a ratio pairs a flow item with a balance sheet item (return on equity, asset turnover), analysts often average the beginning and ending balances, or the five quarter-end balances, over the trailing period so that the denominator reflects the whole year.

Per-share figures

TTM EPS is usually the sum of the four quarterly diluted EPS figures. Because share counts change from quarter to quarter, that sum can differ slightly from TTM net income divided by the current share count. Data sources do not always use the same convention, which is one reason two sites can show different TTM EPS for the same stock.

Worked example: TTM revenue

Hypothetical company with a December 31 fiscal year end.

Using the year-to-date method:

$400M + $220M − $190M = $430 million TTM revenue (July 2024 through June 2025)

The quarterly method gives the same result: Q3 2024 ($100M) + Q4 2024 ($110M) + Q1 2025 ($105M) + Q2 2025 ($115M) = $430M, consistent with the table’s half-year and annual totals.

What the figure tells you: the company’s latest 12 months of revenue are 7.5% above its last fiscal year ($430M vs. $400M), a growth signal that the annual report alone would not show until early 2026.

Ratios built on TTM data

Trailing P/E ratio

Trailing P/E = current share price ÷ TTM EPS

Hypothetical: a stock trades at $60, and its last four quarterly EPS figures were $0.70, $0.80, $0.75 and $0.75. TTM EPS is $3.00, so the trailing P/E is 20. The price is current while the earnings are historical, so the ratio changes every trading day even though the denominator only changes after each earnings release.

The forward P/E uses projected earnings for the next 12 months instead. Trailing P/E rests on reported results. Forward P/E rests on estimates that may not be met.

TTM dividend yield

For a stock, TTM yield is the dividends paid over the past 12 months divided by the current share price.

Hypothetical: a $50 stock paid $0.25 per share in each of the last four quarters. TTM yield = $1.00 ÷ $50 = 2.0%.

For a mutual fund or ETF, the 12-month (TTM) yield is the income distributions paid over the trailing year divided by the current price or net asset value. It describes what the fund paid, not what it will pay. If a company raises its dividend, the TTM yield understates the new payout rate until four payments at the higher level have been made. A special one-time dividend inflates it for a full year.

Other common uses

• Growth comparisons: comparing TTM revenue or earnings with the TTM figure from a year earlier shows growth on a full-year basis that is not tied to the fiscal calendar.
• Peer comparisons: two companies with different fiscal year ends (for example, June and December) can be compared on matching TTM windows.
• Credit and deal analysis: leverage ratios such as debt to LTM EBITDA pair the latest debt balance with a trailing year of EBITDA.

TTM vs. YoY, QoQ and annualized figures

These terms describe different things and are easy to mix up:

• TTM / LTM is a level: the total (or average) for the last 12 months, such as $430 million of revenue.
• YoY (year over year) is a change: one period compared with the same period a year earlier. Q2 2025 vs. Q2 2024 is a YoY quarterly comparison; TTM growth is a YoY comparison of two 12-month windows.
• QoQ (quarter over quarter) compares one quarter with the immediately preceding fiscal quarter. It reacts fastest to change but is the most exposed to seasonality: a retailer’s first quarter will often look weak next to its holiday quarter.
• Annualized or run-rate figures project a shorter period forward, for example one quarter’s revenue multiplied by four. That is an extrapolation, whereas TTM uses only results already reported.
• Fiscal year figures cover a fixed 12-month period set by the company. TTM equals the fiscal year figure only on the day the annual report is the latest filing.

Limitations

• It is backward-looking and smooths over turning points. TTM reflects results already reported, which may be several months old. A sharp change in the latest quarter is diluted by three older quarters. Pairing TTM with QoQ or YoY quarterly data shows both the trend and the latest direction.
• One-time items stay in the window for a year. An asset sale gain, litigation charge or impairment can distort TTM earnings and the trailing P/E until that quarter rolls off. Checking the income statement for unusual items helps separate recurring results.
• Acquisitions and divestitures break comparability. If a company bought another business six months ago, its TTM revenue includes only six months of the acquired operations. Some companies publish pro forma LTM figures to adjust for this; those are adjusted numbers, not reported results.
• Restatements and definitions vary. Revised prior-quarter figures, differences in how data providers treat diluted shares and non-GAAP adjustments can all produce different TTM values for the same company.

FAQs

The Bottom Line

TTM figures help investors and analysts who want a current, full-year view of performance that is free of seasonal swings and fiscal calendar differences. Because TTM reflects only reported results, it can lag turning points and carry one-time items for a year. Pairing it with quarterly YoY or QoQ data and checking for unusual items gives a clearer read on the latest direction.