LTM (Last Twelve Months)

LTM stands for Last Twelve Months (also called Trailing Twelve Months, or TTM). It is the standard financial reference period used in M&A transactions, investment banking analysis, and deal documents to present a company’s most recent full-year performance — regardless of where the company sits in its fiscal year.

LTM financials appear throughout the pitchbook, CIM, and valuation process. When a buyer or advisor refers to “LTM revenue” or “LTM EBITDA,” they mean the revenue or earnings for the twelve-month period ending on the most recent available date — typically the last completed quarter.

Why LTM Is Used Instead of the Last Fiscal Year

In M&A transactions, the deal process often takes 6–18 months from initial engagement to close. A company’s fiscal year end may have been six months ago — or more. Using the last full fiscal year as the valuation anchor means working with stale data during a live process.

LTM solves this by normalizing all financial comparisons to the most recent twelve-month window. If a company’s fiscal year ends December 31 and the deal process is running in October 2026, the LTM period ends September 30, 2026 — giving buyers and advisors a more current view of the business than FY2025 figures would provide.

This matters particularly in fast-growing businesses where six months of additional performance materially changes the valuation calculation.

How LTM Is Calculated

The standard LTM calculation uses the most recently available financial statements:

LTM = Last Full Fiscal Year + Current YTD − Prior Year YTD

For example:

• FY2025 Revenue (full year): $20M
• Jan–Sep 2026 YTD Revenue: $18M
• Jan–Sep 2025 YTD Revenue: $14M

LTM Revenue = $20M + $18M − $14M = $24M

This formula adds the fiscal year result, adds the current year progress since the fiscal year end, and removes the overlapping period from the prior year — producing a clean trailing twelve-month total.

The same calculation applies to EBITDA, gross profit, and any other income statement metric. For Adjusted EBITDA, the calculation also includes normalization adjustments applied at the LTM level.

Where LTM Appears in Deal Documents

LTM figures appear across nearly every analytical component of an M&A transaction:

Comparable Company Analysis Public company comps use LTM financials to calculate current trading multiples (EV/EBITDA, EV/Revenue) for each comparable. Using LTM ensures that all companies in the comps table are evaluated on the same trailing basis, regardless of different fiscal year calendars.

Precedent Transaction Analysis Precedent transactions use the LTM financials of the acquired company at the time of the deal announcement. This is the standard convention because it reflects what buyers actually paid relative to the performance the target was demonstrating at the moment of sale.

CIM Financial Section A CIM typically presents three-to-five years of historical financial results (FY results), followed by the LTM period and management projections for two-to-three years forward. The LTM row bridges historical performance to the forward view, giving buyers a clear baseline.

Pitchbook Valuation Summary When an M&A advisor presents a valuation range in a pitchbook, the implied multiple is applied to LTM financials as the baseline — with commentary on how forward (NTM) multiples and projected growth interact with the range.

LTM vs. NTM

NTM stands for Next Twelve Months — the forward projection for the coming twelve-month period. NTM figures come from management forecasts rather than audited historical results.

Metric	LTM	NTM
Data source	Historical (actuals)	Forecast (management projections)
Reliability	High — auditable	Variable — depends on forecast quality
Used by	Buyers for diligence anchor	Both parties for growth narrative
Multiple applied	Backward-looking comps	Forward multiple calculations

Experienced advisors present both LTM and NTM multiples in the pitchbook valuation section. The LTM multiple reflects current performance; the NTM multiple reflects the implied growth premium the buyer would need to accept. For high-growth businesses, the NTM multiple is often the more relevant benchmark because it captures the forward momentum buyers are paying for.

LTM Adjustments and Normalization

LTM figures are sometimes adjusted before being used in valuation analysis:

Seasonality adjustments For businesses with meaningful revenue seasonality (retail, hospitality, agriculture), a straight LTM calculation may include or exclude a disproportionate holiday or harvest period. Advisors note this explicitly in the CIM or pitchbook appendix.

One-time items Non-recurring items — legal settlements, one-time contract wins, extraordinary costs — are typically removed from LTM EBITDA as part of the Adjusted EBITDA normalization. This produces an LTM Adjusted EBITDA figure that better reflects run-rate earnings.

Run-rate adjustments If a company completed an acquisition or opened a significant new revenue channel partway through the LTM period, advisors may present a “pro forma LTM” that annualizes the contribution. This is a common adjustment in roll-up strategies or businesses with material recent changes.

All of these adjustments should be clearly disclosed and explained in the CIM. Buyers will conduct their own diligence against the LTM figures, and unexplained discrepancies between presented LTM and diligence-derived figures are a significant source of deal friction.

LTM in Practice: A Worked Example

Suppose an advisor is running a sell-side process for a business services firm. The CIM is being finalized in April 2026. The company’s fiscal year ends December 31.

• FY2024 EBITDA: $3.2M
• FY2025 EBITDA: $4.1M
• Jan–Mar 2026 EBITDA: $1.4M (Q1 actual)
• Jan–Mar 2025 EBITDA: $0.9M (Q1 prior year for LTM calculation)

LTM EBITDA (Apr 2025–Mar 2026) = $4.1M + $1.4M − $0.9M = $4.6M

The comps analysis shows that comparable companies trade at 7–9x LTM EBITDA. The implied valuation range for this business is $32M–$41M — based on LTM EBITDA, before considering synergy premiums or strategic buyer uplift.

This is the calculation an advisor would present in the pitchbook and defend in the buyer CIM process.