Debt equity indicator (Historical) Formula in Excel
Are you looking for a way to track a company’s historical debt-to-equity ratio in Excel? The Debt equity indicator (Historical) formula by MarketXLS is designed to help you retrieve and analyze historical debt-equity values for any publicly traded symbol. With this function, you can quickly monitor changes in the leverage ratio over specific quarters or years, empowering you to make more informed investment decisions.
Understanding Debt equity indicator (Historical)
The Debt equity indicator (Historical) measures how much debt a company uses relative to its equity over a specified time period.
- Purpose: Helps investors assess a company's financial leverage and risk profile over historical periods.
- Key Benefits:
- Provides year-over-year (YoY) or quarter-over-quarter analysis of leverage.
- Aids in trend analysis to identify patterns in a company’s balance sheet health.
- Easily integrated into Excel for seamless reporting.
- When to Use: Apply this formula if you need to compare debt levels between multiple years or quarters, or to track the trailing twelve months (TTM) performance to gauge short-term trend changes.
Syntax and Parameters
Use the following syntax when calling the function in Excel:
=hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator(Symbol, year, [quarter], [TTM])
Parameter | Description | Required | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Symbol | The ticker symbol or identifier of the security. Supports equities (e.g. "MSFT"), indices (e.g. "^SPX"), options (e.g. "@MSFT 110122C00020000"), and cryptocurrencies (e.g. "BTCUSD:DEFAULT"). | Yes | "MSFT" "^SPX" "@MSFT 110122C00020000" "BTCUSD:DEFAULT" |
year | The specific year or relative year label (e.g., "LY", "LQ"). You can also use date inputs, referencing cells or typing dates directly. | Yes | "2022" "LY" =A1 "2024-03-15" =TEXT(A1,"yyyy-mm-dd") |
quarter | The calendar quarter (1 to 4) or blank to default to Quarter 1. | No | 2 |
TTM | Use "TTM" for trailing twelve months or leave blank for period data only. | No | "TTM" |
? Pro Tip: You can use relative year/quarter references like "lq-1" to retrieve data for the previous quarter or "ly-2" to look back two years from the last year-end.
Return Value
- Data Type: Numeric value (double) representing the debt-equity ratio for the specified period.
- Error Handling: Returns "NA" if the symbol is invalid, the data is unavailable, or your MarketXLS plan does not support the requested data.
?? Note: If the function faces a runtime issue (e.g., network interruption, server error), it also returns "NA".
Special Cases & Performance
- Blank or invalid
Symbol
? "NA" returned. - Non-numeric input for
year
? Interpreted as relative periods ("lq", "ly", etc.) or returns "NA" if unrecognized. - Performance: The function queries historical data from MarketXLS’s server. Consider refreshing data periodically rather than continuously for optimal speed.
Examples and Usage
Below are some examples illustrating how to use the Debt equity indicator (Historical) formula in common scenarios:
-
Yearly value:
=hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", 2022)
Returns the historical debt-equity ratio for Microsoft in 2022.
-
Quarterly value:
=hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", 2022, 2)
Retrieves the ratio for Microsoft in Q2 of 2022.
-
Trailing Twelve Months (TTM):
=hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", 2022, 3, "TTM")
Returns the TTM ratio through Q3 of 2022.
-
Last Quarter (LQ) references:
=hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", "lq") =hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", "lq-1")
Retrieves the most recent quarter’s ratio and from one quarter before that.
-
Last Year (LY) references:
=hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", "ly") =hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", "ly-1")
Fetches the ratio for the last year, and the year before that.
-
Last Twelve Months (LT) references:
=hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", "lt") =hf_Debt_Equity_Indicator("MSFT", "lt-1")
Tracks the trailing twelve-month ratio for the latest period and one step back.
? Pro Tip: Apply custom cell references for
year
orquarter
if you’re building dynamic spreadsheets that adjust automatically based on current data.
Common Questions
1. Why am I getting "NA" as a return value?
- An invalid or unsupported symbol was entered.
- Your MarketXLS plan may not cover that data.
- The period data (year, quarter) is not supported or not yet released for that symbol.
2. How do I know if my data is up-to-date?
MarketXLS updates fundamental data periodically. For real-time refresh, toggle “Refresh All” or schedule data updates in Excel to get the latest results.
3. Can I combine it with other MarketXLS functions?
Absolutely. You can integrate the Debt equity indicator (Historical) formula into broader analyses, such as comparing it with the company’s Revenue (Historical) or Gross Profit (Historical) for more comprehensive financial insights.
4. Any best practices for handling multiple symbols at once?
- Use separate cells for each symbol and reference them in your formula.
- Leverage Excel’s fill-down or fill-right features if you have a list of symbols.
?? Note: Always ensure your references and data ranges are correct to avoid unintended results.
By incorporating the Debt equity indicator (Historical) formula into your Excel workflow, you gain quick and accurate insight into a company’s financial leverage across different time frames. Use it alongside other MarketXLS historical fundamental functions to form a well-rounded understanding of a company's performance and risk profile.