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Net Margin History Chart
Chart any stock's net profit margin % across the last eight quarters and see at a glance whether bottom-line profitability is expanding or compressing. Auto-populates from Yahoo Finance. Pair it with the net margin screener and the operating margin history chart for full context.
How to Read Net Margin Trends
Net margin is the share of every revenue dollar left after all costs — production, operations, interest, and taxes — have been paid. It sits at the very bottom of the income statement and represents the earnings that are either returned to shareholders as dividends or retained to fund future growth. Tracking it quarter by quarter reveals whether the full earnings machine is becoming more or less efficient over time.
A rising net margin usually signals pricing power, operating leverage, falling debt costs, or a lower effective tax rate; a falling one can reflect any combination of cost pressures, competitive headwinds, rising interest expense, or aggressive investment ahead of revenue. Compare the trend against direct peers rather than judging the absolute level — 5% is excellent for a retailer and alarming for a software company. Watch operating margin too in the operating margin history chart, since a divergence between operating and net margin reveals whether the gap is driven by financing costs or tax changes rather than operational factors.
Once you have the margin trend, screen the whole market with the net margin screener, track the top line with the revenue history chart, or anchor the full thesis with a DCF model.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the net margin history chart show?
It plots a company's net margin — net income divided by total revenue, expressed as a percentage — over the last eight quarters. Reading the bars left to right reveals whether the company's bottom-line profitability is expanding, holding steady, or compressing. Net margin is the most complete profitability measure on the income statement because it captures all costs: production, operations, interest, and taxes.
What is a good net profit margin?
It depends entirely on the industry. Software and pharmaceutical companies can sustain net margins of 20–35% or higher, while grocery retailers and thin-margin manufacturers often run below 3% and remain healthy businesses. What matters more than the absolute level is the trend relative to peers and history — a stable or rising net margin signals that the company's pricing power exceeds its full cost stack, while a declining margin signals mounting cost pressure, rising debt service, or a deteriorating competitive position.
How is net margin calculated here?
Net margin is net income divided by total revenue, times 100. The quarter-over-quarter change is shown in percentage points — the arithmetic difference between one quarter's margin and the prior quarter's — not as a percentage of the margin itself, so a move from 15% to 17% reads as +2.0 pp. The netIncome field from Yahoo Finance quarterly fundamentals is used. Negative net income (a loss quarter) produces a negative margin, which the chart preserves so investors see the real picture.
How does net margin differ from gross and operating margin?
Gross margin only subtracts direct production costs (COGS) from revenue. Operating margin additionally subtracts operating expenses like R&D, sales, and overhead. Net margin goes all the way to the bottom line, also subtracting interest expense and income taxes. A company can have strong gross and operating margins but a weak net margin due to heavy debt loads or a high tax rate. Comparing all three reveals exactly where profit is leaking between the top line and what shareholders actually keep.
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