Time arguments
Many signals accept an argument which specify a date. Depending on the particular signal, we support a number of ways to specify such dates. We distinguish between absolute dates, which are defined according the standard calendar, and entity-relative dates, which are based on the fiscal calendar of any one company.
Some of the identifiers specify an ordinal number n, referring to the nth period of some kind. In these cases n = 1 refers to the “current” period (either the period we are currently in, or the first unreported period), n = 0 refers to the previous period, and n = 2, 3, … refer to future periods. In all cases it is required that n ≥ 0.
Note
Not all time arguments are accepted whenever a signal accepts a time argument. Consult the documentation for any individual signal to see which kinds of values it accepts.
Absolute dates
Dates based on the standard calendar.
Identifier |
Example |
Description |
|---|---|---|
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A specific date. |
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The last date of the nth calendar year. |
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The last date of the nth calendar quarter. |
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The last date of the nth calendar semi-annual. |
Relative periods
Dates that depends on the evaluation entity, and are specified in terms of fiscal periods, that is, either fiscal years, quarters or semi-annuals.
If the evaluation entity is a company, the fiscal calendar of that company is used. If the signal is evaluated for another entity type (e.g. merchant, app), we look for the company that owns the entity (via ownership relationships), and if found, use that company’s fiscal calendar.
Many companies have fiscal years that deviate from the calendar years in some way. In these cases,
fiscal years will necessarily overlap with two calendar years, which raises the question of what the
fiscal year should be called. In our platform, we name fiscal years according to the calendar year
in which the fiscal year ends, so FY-2025 refers to the fiscal years that ends in 2025, even
though most of that year may have taken place in 2024. There is one exception to this rule: Some
companies have fiscal years that end, say, on the Sunday that is closest to 31 December. In these
cases, the years are named after the year which 31 December belongs to, even though the Sunday
closest to it may be in the beginning of January in the following calendar year.
Identifier |
Example |
Description |
|---|---|---|
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The fiscal year yyyy. |
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The nth quarter of the fiscal year yyyy. (1 ≤ n ≤ 4) |
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The nth semi-annual period of the fiscal year yyyy. (1 ≤ n ≤ 2) |
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The nth fiscal year. |
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The nth fiscal quarter. |
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The nth fiscal semi-annual period. |
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The same as |
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The nth fiscal year. |
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The nth fiscal quarter. |
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The nth fiscal semi-annual period. |
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The same as |
Rolling relative periods
Rolling relative periods are arguments that can be used with the revision signals fs_revisions
and va_revisions. The basic functionality of these signals is to show the
evaluation of consensus estimates for a specific fiscal period, which can be specified by any of the
relative period arguments, or as a fixed date yyyy-mm-dd referring to
the last day of the fiscal period. In addition, it is possible to create a signal which combines
the revisions of the underlying signal at different dates by specifying a rolling relative period.
The following values are supported:
Identifier |
Example |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
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Rolling relative fiscal years. |
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Rolling relative fiscal quarters. |
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Rolling relative fiscal semi-annuals. |
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The same as |
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The next twelve months. |
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A blended forward of the next year. |
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Calendarized revisions for a specific year. |
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Calendarized revisions for a specific quarter. |
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Calendarized revisions for a specific semi-annual period. |
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Calendarized revisions for the nth calendar year. |
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Calendarized revisions for a specific quarter. |
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Calendarized revisions for a specific semi-annual period. |
Rolling fiscal periods
The rolling relative periods, GXn, are calculated by associating to each date a specific fiscal
period, namely the fiscal period that FXn would refer to at that date. The effect is that several
FXn time series are sewn together into a single GXn time series.
For example, if a company has a standard fiscal calendar, the GY1 value on any date in 2023 is
the revision for the fiscal year 2023 as it was known on that date, while the value on any date in
2024 is the revision for the fiscal year 2024 as it was known on that date. Similarly, the GY2
date on any date in 2023 is the revision for the fiscal year 2024 as it was known on that date.
Next twelve months
This option calculates for each date the sum of the revisions at that date for the next four quarters, or the next two semi-annuals, if the company reports semi-annually.
For example, if a company reports quarterly and has a standard fiscal calendar, the NTM value on
30 June 2024 is the sum of the revisions as of 30 June 2024 of Q2, Q3 and Q4 2024 and Q1 2025. The
value on the following day, 1 July 2024, is the sum of the revisions as of 1 July 2024 of Q3 and Q4
2024 and Q1 and Q2 2025.
Blended forward
The BF1 option calculates a blended forward for the next year. For each date, this is calculated
as a weighted average of the revisions at that date for each of the fiscal years that overlap with
the year starting at that date. The weights are based on the size of the overlap between the fiscal
years and the year starting at the date.
For example, if a company has a standard fiscal calendar, the BF1 value on 15 May 2024 is
calculated as a blend of the 365-day period starting 15 May 2024 and ending 14 May 2025. That
365-day period has an overlap of 231 days with the fiscal year 2024 and 134 days with the fiscal
year 2025. The BF1 value is then the sum of 231/366 of the revision for 2024 and 134/365 of the
revision for 2025. (The denominators differ because 2024 is a leap year.)
You can also calculate the blended forward of the previous or future years by changing the value of
n in BFn. Using the same example as above, the value of BF2 is calculated as a blend of
the 365-day period starting 15 May 2025 and ending 14 May 2026, using the revisions for the fiscal
years 2025 and 2026 as they were known 15 May 2024. Similarly, the value of BF0 is calculated as
a blend of the 366-day period starting 15 May 2023 and ending 14 May 2024, again using the revisions
for the fiscal years 2023 and 2024 as they were known on 15 May 2024.
Calendarized revisions
These options provide revisions on a calendarized basis. Even though companies use different fiscal calendars, you may want to analyze them using the standard calendar. The calendar periods are specified as follows:
Identifier |
Meaning |
|---|---|
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The year starting 1 January 2024 and ending 31 December 2024. |
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The quarter starting 1 January 2024 and ending 31 March 2024. |
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The quarter starting 1 April 2024 and ending 30 June 2024. |
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The quarter starting 1 July 2024 and ending 30 September 2024. |
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The quarter starting 1 October 2024 and ending 31 December 2024. |
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The semi-annual period starting 1 January 2024 and ending 30 June 2024. |
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The semi-annual period starting 1 July 2024 and ending 31 December 2024. |
Calendarization methods
This is governed by the argument calendarize, which can be either blended, last or
nearest. The default is blended.
The blended calendarization finds the revision for each of the fiscal periods overlapping with the calendar period and adds them together with weights in proportion to the size of the overlap. If a fiscal period is fully contained in the calendar period, its entire value is included; if a fiscal period partially overlaps with the calendar period, its value is multiplied by the number of days of the overlap divided by the number of days in the fiscal period.
The last calendarization uses revisions for the last fiscal period whose end date is no later than the end of the calendar period.
The nearest calendarization uses revisions for the fiscal period whose end date is nearest to the end of the calendar period.
Input frequency
This is governed by the argument calendarize_from_freq and specifies the frequency of the time
series used as a basis for calendarization. It can be any of the following:
Frequency |
Meaning |
|---|---|
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Either quarterly or semi-annual frequency, |
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Quarterly frequency. |
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Semi-annual frequency. |
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Annual frequency. |
When calendarizing to a calendar year, the default is FQ/FS. When calendarizing to a quarter or
semi-annual period, the default is FQ or FS, respectively.