How does Cross-Sectional Ratio Analysis Work?

What is Cross-Sectional Analysis?

Cross-Sectional analysis is one of the handiest tools in comparing the performance of companies. Usually, companies within a given industry are tested with a chosen metric in cross-sectional analysis. It is not only correct, but it is also quite accurate in measuring the true financial potential of a company.

Cross-sectional analysis is an analysis of specific data of a population or study of the pre-set subjects at a certain period of time. In finance, cross-sectional analysis is used to compare the performance of companies. The cross-sectional analysis offers insight into the performance of a company on a given metric at a certain point in time, and finance professionals utilize it to focus on the strength of a company over a given subject or a group of subjects.

To be included in a cross-sectional analysis, there should be at least two companies for comparison and they must have a common subject on which they will be compared.

For example, to analyze two companies via cross-sectional analysis, they should be from the same industry or manufacturing domain.

Cross-Sectional Analysis in Finance

Finance professionals usually resort to cross-sectional analysis to get an insight into a company’s potential in specific subjects. They may test the whole industry by taking up companies from the industry and analyzing specific details of the company. However, it is needed to analyze the same

metrics of the chosen target group. For cross-sectional analysis to be accurate, specific and chosen metrics play a vital role.

The data needed for a cross-sectional analysis are collected from the financial documents of the company, such as the profit and loss accounts, the balance sheet, and income and cash flow statements. Occasionally, other business data available in other documents may also be used for the cross-sectional analysis.

Working of Cross-Sectional Analysis

Finance professionals may use cross-sectional analysis for the following reasons −

Valuation of a Firm

Cross-sectional analysis may reveal the true worth or valuation of a company after comparison of the firm with other firms in the same industry and product category. It is a very important function because without specific comparison, it will be very hard to determine the actual strength, and therefore, the value of a company.

Debt Load

Debt load implies to the amount of debt a company carries which is available on the public balance sheet of the company. Learning about the debt load may let investors and analysts compare the potential of the company to meet its long-term obligations comparison to other factors, such as cash flow.

Operational Efficiency

Operational efficiency is how well a firm uses its operational costs. The profitability attached to operational costs is an important metric because it offers a true insight into the financial health of the firm. If the operational efficiency is compromised, the profitability may be lost due to the lack of efficient operation of the firm. Cross-sectional analysis helps measure operational efficiency for a group of companies in the same industry.

Return on Equity (RoE)

When the income of a company is compared with shareholder’s equity, RoE is obtained. RoE is an important tool that is subjected to Cross-sectional analysis to find an idea of the income of the company which must grow with shareholder's equity to keep the financials of the company intact on the track.

Conclusion

Cross-sectional analysis is a valuable tool for investors and analysts to determine the true worth of a company. It offers the correct insights into a company’s performance by measuring it against the average of the industry. Therefore, the use of cross-sectional analysis is widespread and it is considered one of the most important financial ratio analysis tools.