what is last twelve months ltm 
last twelve months ltm refers to the timeframe of the immediately preceding 12 months it is also commonly designated as trailing twelve months ttm ltm is often used in reference to a financial metric used to evaluate a company s performance such as revenues or debt to equity d e although a 12 month period is a relatively short time span for examining company performance it is considered useful because it indicates a company s most recent performance and is indicative of the company s current state the terms last twelve months or trailing twelve months frequently appear in a company s earnings reports or other financial statements understanding last twelve months ltm while in some respects 12 months of data is less than adequate for investment evaluations it is a long enough span of time to level out annual seasonal factors possible short term price fluctuations and some market swings last twelve month figures provide updated metrics from the typical annual and quarterly figures reported by company management in reviewing figures shown as last twelve months or trailing twelve months investors should not assume the figures necessarily coincide with a company s most recent fiscal year in company financial statements which are typically filed at the company s fiscal year end the last twelve month figures refer to the 12 month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated such as june 30 or december 31 for example in a financial statement dated march 2015 last twelve month figures cover the period of time from april 1 2014 through march 31 2015 using the last twelve months metricsin addition to being used to gauge the recent trend of a given company s performance the last twelve month financial metrics are also frequently used to compare the relative performance of similar companies within an industry or sector financial metrics commonly considered by looking at last twelve month figures include a company s price earnings p e ratio and earnings per share eps in reviewing stocks mutual funds and exchange traded funds etfs the dividend yield figure for the last twelve months is often compared with the sec yield figure which reflects only the yield of the most recently paid dividend another instance where the last twelve months figures are useful is when a company is being considered for acquisition to arrive at a more accurate current value of a company last twelve months figures are often preferable to the most recent fiscal year figures 