Top line
Definition · Level 9 · Valuation
Keep reading with Tradecraft
Without an account, you can read three definitions every 30 days. Tradecraft explains all 738 terms and strategies, with the lessons that teach them, flashcards that come back before you forget, quizzes and a payoff lab.
Revenue (sales): the first line of the income statement — what the company earned from customers in the period, before any costs.
Example
“Top line grew 8% but EPS was flat — margins compressed.”
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 9 · Valuation, in the lesson “The income statement: top line to bottom line”: Walk from revenue to net income, read the margins, and know what EBITDA hides.
Related terms
- Bottom lineNet income: the profit left for shareholders after all costs, interest and taxes; divided by the share count it gives EPS.
- COGSCost of goods sold: the direct cost of producing what was sold in the period — materials, factory labor, freight, or hosting for a software firm.
- Depreciation & amortization (D&A)Non-cash charges that spread the cost of long-lived assets over their useful lives: the first for physical assets (plants, equipment, servers), the…
- EBITOperating income: revenue minus COGS and operating expenses (SG&A, R&D, D&A), before interest and taxes.
- EBITDAOperating income with depreciation and amortization added back — capital-structure-neutral and a rough proxy for pre-tax operating cash.
- Gross margin(Revenue − cost of goods sold) ÷ revenue: the share of each sales dollar left after the direct cost of making or delivering the product.