Earnings Before Tax (Historical) Formula in Excel

Discover how to leverage the powerful Earnings Before Tax (Historical) formula in Excel with MarketXLS. This function helps you quickly retrieve the company’s earnings before tax (EBT) for a specified historical period–perfect for financial analysis and modeling.

Understanding Earnings Before Tax (Historical)

The Earnings Before Tax (Historical) formula provides:

• A quick way to analyze a company’s historical earnings before tax.
• Essential insights for evaluating profitability over specific periods (annual, quarterly, trailing twelve months).
• Streamlined data retrieval, reducing manual research and potential errors.

When to use:

• Performing year-over-year or quarter-over-quarter performance comparisons.
• Building financial dashboards to monitor key profit metrics.
• Running quick analyses on historical tax and profitability trends.

Syntax and Parameters

Use the following syntax in Excel:

=hf_Earnings_before_Tax(Symbol, Year, [Quarter], [TTM])

Return Value:
• Numeric earnings before tax or "NA" if data is unavailable.

Error Handling:
• Returns "NA" if the symbol is invalid, subscription is inactive, or data is not available for the specified period.

?? Note: You need an active license and the appropriate MarketXLS data subscription for historical fundamentals to use this function seamlessly.

Examples and Usage

Below are common ways to use hf_Earnings_before_Tax:

1. By directly specifying parameters:

   =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT", 2022)

   Returns Microsoft’s earnings before tax for the year 2022.

2. Including a quarter:

   =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT", 2022, 2)

   Gets the value for the 2nd quarter of 2022.

3. Using trailing twelve months data:

   =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT", 2022, 3, "TTM")

   Returns EBT for the trailing twelve months from the 3rd quarter of 2022.

4. Relative references for last quarter (lq), last year (ly), etc.:

   =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT","lq")
   =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT","ly")
   =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT","lt")

   • "lq" pulls the last reported quarter
   • "ly" pulls the last reported year
   • "lt" calculates the last 12 months

5. Using cell references for the Year parameter:

   =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT", A1)

   Where cell A1 contains 2022, "ly", or another valid year reference.

? Pro Tip: Combine =YEAR(A1) with date cells to dynamically calculate the year, e.g., =hf_Earnings_before_Tax("MSFT", YEAR(A1)).

Common Questions

1. Why am I getting “NA”?

• Check if your subscription supports historical fundamental data.
• Verify the correctness of the Symbol (e.g., "MSFT" vs. "MSFTe").
• Confirm the specified Year or period is valid.

2. How does TTM work?

When you include "TTM", the function calculates earnings by combining data from the last four quarters up to the specified quarter.

3. Are there performance considerations?

• Fetching extensive historical data repeatedly can slow performance. If you need multiple data points, consider referencing single cells that store the function’s output or using the MarketXLS caching features.

4. Do I need a specific MarketXLS plan?

Yes. Historical fundamentals require an active MarketXLS data subscription that supports historical data feeds.

?? Note: For best results, ensure your MarketXLS add-in is updated to the latest version.

By following these guidelines, you can efficiently retrieve and analyze a company’s historical EBT data, empowering you to make more informed decisions in your financial and investment analyses.