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MARKETS / GLOSSARY / GROSS MARGIN

Gross margin

Gross margin is the share of revenue left after the direct cost of producing what was sold — how many cents of each dollar billed survive the factory, before anything else is paid.

Definition

How it is computed here

Formula(revenue − cost of revenue) ÷ revenue
UnitRatio (shown as %)
PeriodOne fiscal year, as reported
SourceExtracted from SEC filings; every value on an asset page carries the accounting tag and the filing it came from
Identifiermargem_bruta
The inputs

What goes into the formula

RevenueThe top line, net of collected sales taxes where the filing still includes them. Using the un-netted figure understates the margin of every excise-heavy business.
Cost of revenueThe direct cost of what was sold, as reported. Where the company reports gross profit directly, that figure is used instead of the subtraction.

A formula without its inputs explained is decoration. Where an input is missing from a filing, the metric is left empty here rather than completed with a zero or an estimate.

Worked example

How to calculate gross margin, step by step

A software company and a grocer, same revenue.

Both — revenue$4,000M
Software — cost of revenue$1,000M
Grocer — cost of revenue$3,200M
  1. Software: gross profit = 4,000 − 1,000 = $3,000M.
  2. Software: gross margin = 3,000 ÷ 4,000 = 0.75 = 75.0%.
  3. Grocer: gross profit = 4,000 − 3,200 = $800M.
  4. Grocer: gross margin = 800 ÷ 4,000 = 0.20 = 20.0%.

Result: 75.0% against 20.0%

Seventy-five cents of every software dollar survived the cost of delivery; twenty cents of every grocery dollar did. Neither company is better run — they are different businesses, and the grocer turns its capital over many more times a year.

The figures in this example are illustrative and rounded — they are not a real company. The real figures on this site are the live ones below and on every asset page, each carrying the filing it came from.

Why it matters

What gross margin is good for

Gross margin is the closest thing in a filing to a measure of pricing power. A company that can raise prices without losing customers shows it here first, and a company losing pricing power shows it here before the loss reaches net income. Watched across years for one company, it is one of the most informative single series on this site.

The limit

What this number does not tell you

What counts as 'cost of revenue' is a presentation choice, and companies in the same industry draw the line differently — one includes distribution and its competitor does not. Some banks and insurers do not report it at all, which is why the field is sometimes empty here rather than guessed. And a high gross margin says nothing about profit: a company can keep 80 cents at the factory gate and lose money by spending 90 on sales.

Every metric on this site is published with its blind spot stated. A figure without its limit is half a fact.

In the data

Highest reported gross margin

From the most recent fiscal year of each company.

On a real company

See it in a published filing

Their sectors

These pages show the figure across up to nineteen fiscal years, with the accounting tag and the filing behind every value.

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