Compound Annual Growth Rate CAGR
The steady yearly growth rate that would take a starting value to an ending value over a number of years, as if it compounded smoothly.
What it is
CAGR is the single average annual rate at which something (revenue, earnings, an investment) would have grown if it grew by the same percentage every year and compounded. Real-world results are bumpy, so CAGR smooths the ups and downs into one comparable number. It answers "what constant yearly rate connects the start point to the end point?"
Why it matters
CAGR lets you compare growth across different companies or time spans on an apples-to-apples basis, which a simple total change cannot do. Its main limitation is that it hides volatility: two businesses with the same CAGR can have very different year-to-year paths, and one can be far riskier. It is also sensitive to the chosen start and end dates, so a cherry-picked starting year (for example, a recession low) can make growth look better than it really was.
How it's calculated
Divide the ending value by the beginning value, raise that ratio to the power of one divided by the number of years, then subtract one. Multiply by 100 to express it as a percentage.
How Quintarthai uses it
Quintarthai's 10-year Financials tab lets you see multi-year revenue, earnings, and cash-flow trends from which a CAGR can be derived on each company's deep-analysis page, and Quinn's sector-relative analysis uses multi-year growth context with click-to-source provenance.