Investing Club mailbag: Why do some companies have weird fiscal years that don’t align with the calendar?

Hi Jim/Jeff, Thanks for all the work you do. Had a question about financial reports. For example, Salesforce reported their recent quarter and called it Q1 2024. But when I see the article about estimates from Refinitiv it shows quarter April ’23. I want to understand how do they describe the quarter and fiscal financial year in the quarterly reports? Thanks, — Ravi Most companies align their fiscal years with the calendar year — meaning that they both begin at the start of January and conclude at the end of December. As we know, this isn’t always the case, and it can be confusing. Some companies will be off by a few months and others may be a full year ahead. Using the month that ends the quarter and the calendar year as shorthand, rather than the quarter number and fiscal year, can help ensure everyone is on the same page. For example, Club name Salesforce (CRM) just reported its fiscal 2024 first quarter, which actually ended on April 30, 2023. That’s why you’ll also see it described as the “April ’23 quarter” or the “April quarter.” It normalizes the three-month time frame for comparing companies with different fiscal years. Therefore, Salesforce’s April ’23 quarter, or fiscal 2024 first quarter, started at the beginning of February of this year. Club holding Apple (AAPL), as another example, starts its new fiscal year in the prior calendar year’s December quarter. So, Apple’s fiscal 2023 first quarter, which ran from October 2022 to December 2022, was out when companies reporting on a calendar basis released their fourth-quarter results for 2022. While there may be many reasons to opt for a fiscal year that doesn’t follow the calendar, it often comes down to the company’s sales cycle. For Apple, it makes more sense when you consider that the iPhone — by far the tech giant’s most important product — is generally unveiled each year at a September event and then launched in early October. As a result, Apple’s fiscal year aligns with the launch of the most updated iPhone and captures a full year of device sales. Veering away from tech, retailers tend to end their fiscal first quarter at the end of April, meaning it starts three months earlier at the beginning of February. This ensures that their fiscal fourth-quarter results (which straddle the prior calendar year and the current year) are sure to include the entirety of the holiday selling season and an extra month in January for inventories to normalize. For example, off-price retailer TJX Companies ‘ (TJX) fiscal 2023 fourth quarter, or Jan ’23 quarter, ran from November 2022 to the end of January 2023. TJX just reported its fiscal 2024 first quarter , also described as the April ’23 quarter. Ultimately, we don’t always know why companies choose their fiscal calendars. But, it generally has something to do with the timing of sales, customer orders, or product updates. It’s usually established in order to reflect a full business cycle. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long CRM, APPL, TJX. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.