when looking at a company s quarterly or annual financials it is not enough to just look at the revenue for the current period when investing in a company an investor wants to see it grow or improve over time comparing a company s financials from one period to another gives a clear picture of its revenue growth rate and can help investors identify the catalyst for such growth 
examplefor example say that xyz corp generated 66 2 billion in revenue for the second three months of the year april to june and 58 7 billion for the first three months january to march therefore the company saw quarterly revenue growth of 12 78 over time if this rate continues it will be an excellent investment zooming out and calculating quarterly growth rates for a multi year period can provide even more insight than simply a six or 12 month period limitations of quarterly revenue growthas an investor there are certain limitations with focusing too much on quarterly revenue growth for example the time between quarters is short in any given multi quarter period the company s results could change drastically with business cycles economic shocks management changes or other internal disruptions to a company s supply chain or operations while strong quarterly revenue growth is one metric for success it s important to look at several quarters and the consistency of growth over time if growth is simply a two or three quarter phenomenon it does not necessarily bode well for a longer term investment on the flip side investors should not be greatly concerned when a company sees poor quarterly revenue growth one or two times in a row for example companies that are seasonal such as tourist companies might have stagnant quarterly revenue growth at certain parts of the year and large spikes at other times again it s important to zoom out and look for a pattern in either direction growth or loss to determine the direction in which a company is moving and if it might be a good potential buy sell hold or short some investors have voiced their frustrations over the quarterly reporting cycle citing that it places too much emphasis on short term results over long term sustainable progress can quarterly revenue growth be negative yes if a company generates less revenues quarter over quarter it will be recorded as negative growth this doesn t necessarily mean that the company is losing money just that it s subsequent quarter saw fewer sales than the prior one 