Business First Bancshares, Inc. Stock

📈 What is it?

Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.

📈 What is it?

EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.

📈 What is it?

Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.

📈 What is it?

EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.

📈 What is it?

Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.

📈 What is it?

Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.

📈 What is it?

The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.

📈 What is it?

The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.

📈 What is it?

Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.

📈 What is it?

The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.

📈 What is it?

ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.

📈 What is it?

The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.

🧮 Calculation

📈 What is it?

Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.

🧮 How is it calculated?

🏛️ Why is it important?

This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.

🧮 Calculation