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Operating Margin History Chart
Chart any stock's operating margin % across the last eight quarters and see at a glance whether margins are expanding or compressing. Auto-populates from Yahoo Finance. Pair it with the operating margin screener and the gross margin history chart for full context.
How to Read Operating Margin Trends
Operating margin is the share of every revenue dollar left after paying all operating costs — cost of goods sold, wages, rent, R&D, and depreciation — but before interest and taxes. It sits below gross margin on the income statement and captures both production efficiency and how well the company manages its overhead. Tracking it quarter by quarter shows whether the business is getting operationally leaner or whether rising costs are eating into profits.
A rising operating margin usually means pricing power, operational leverage as revenue scales over fixed costs, or successful cost discipline; a falling one signals competition, rising wages or input costs, or heavy investment in growth that hasn't yet translated to profit. Compare the trend against direct peers rather than judging the absolute level — 8% can be excellent for a grocer and alarming for a software company. Watch gross margin too in the gross margin history chart, since a divergence between the two reveals where operating costs are the culprit.
Once you have the margin trend, screen the whole market with the operating 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 operating margin history chart show?
It plots a company's operating margin — operating income divided by total revenue, expressed as a percentage — over the last eight quarters. Reading the bars left to right shows whether the company's operating profitability is expanding, holding steady, or compressing, reflecting how efficiently it converts revenue into profit after accounting for operating expenses like wages, rent, and depreciation.
What is a good operating margin?
It depends entirely on the industry. Software and pharmaceutical companies can run operating margins above 25–30%, while grocery retailers and hardware manufacturers may operate in the 3–8% range and still be competitive. What matters more than the absolute level is the trend relative to peers — a stable or rising margin signals improving operational efficiency and pricing power, while a declining margin signals cost pressure or competitive headwinds.
How is operating margin calculated here?
Operating margin is operating income (revenue minus cost of goods sold, SG&A, R&D, and depreciation) divided by total revenue, times 100. The quarter-over-quarter change is shown in percentage points — the difference between one quarter's margin and the prior quarter's — not as a percentage of the margin itself, so a move from 20% to 22% reads as +2.0 pp. The operatingIncome field from Yahoo Finance quarterly fundamentals is used, with EBIT as a fallback.
How does operating margin differ from gross margin?
Gross margin only subtracts the direct cost of producing goods (COGS) from revenue. Operating margin goes further and also subtracts operating expenses like sales, marketing, R&D, and overhead. A company with a high gross margin but low operating margin is spending heavily on operating costs — common in high-growth tech companies investing aggressively in sales and R&D. Comparing both metrics reveals where profit leaks occur between the top line and operations.
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