Revenue growth is the year-over-year percentage change in a company's total sales — a top-line measure of business expansion, independent of margins, taxes, or share count.
Strong revenue growth paired with flat or shrinking profit margins can mean a company is buying growth — discounting prices, spending heavily on customer acquisition, or expanding into lower-margin business lines — rather than growing profitably. The highest-quality growth shows revenue and margins improving together.
Live example: AAPL's latest year-over-year revenue growth is +6.0%, reflecting expanding its top line. See the full AAPL forecast for its Fundamentals card, including EPS growth alongside it.
A mature, capital-intensive business growing revenue in the low single digits can be entirely healthy for its category, while the same growth rate would be a red flag for an early-stage software company. Compare against sector peers and the company's own multi-year trend, not an arbitrary universal benchmark.
Neither is 'better' on its own — revenue growth shows the business is selling more; EPS growth shows profit-per-share is rising. The healthiest combination is both improving together.
It can mean the company is growing by discounting or spending heavily to acquire customers — worth investigating rather than treating the revenue growth alone as good news.
It's sector- and stage-dependent — double-digit growth is expected for an early-stage software company but exceptional for a mature utility.
AAPL analysis shows this metric in context, or browse all S&P 500 tickers.
Educational research only — not investment advice.