S&P 500 Stock-Based Compensation as a Share of Revenue (TTM)

Live value temporarily unavailable.

Source: Company filings (aggregated)

Data updated daily

What it measures

The S&P 500 SBC-to-revenue ratio measures aggregate stock-based compensation expense as a percentage of aggregate revenue for index constituents on a trailing-twelve-month basis. SBC is the non-cash cost of equity awards (options, RSUs) granted to employees and is expensed through the income statement under GAAP. A reading of 1.5% means S&P 500 companies collectively issued $1.50 of equity compensation for every $100 of revenue.

Why it matters

Stock-based compensation is a real economic cost to shareholders — it dilutes existing ownership — even though it is non-cash and often added back in adjusted earnings presentations. High SBC ratios, concentrated in technology and growth sectors, mean that reported net income substantially overstates distributable cash flow. Rising SBC-to-revenue at the index level signals increasing equity dilution risk and inflated operating margins on an adjusted basis. A useful cross-check is whether the buyback yield exceeds the SBC yield: if it does not, the index is net diluting shareholders despite reporting buybacks.

How it is calculated

SBC / Revenue (TTM) = Σ TTM Stock-Based Compensation ÷ Σ TTM Revenue × 100

LENSE computes the S&P 500 SBC-to-revenue ratio as aggregate TTM stock-based compensation expense divided by aggregate TTM revenue — not a simple average of per-company ratios. SBC per constituent is sourced from the operating activities section of as-reported quarterly cash flow statements (non-cash add-back); TTM figures are constructed by summing the four most recently reported quarters. Constituents with zero or negative revenue are excluded. Index constituency is resolved point-in-time via the S&P 500 point-in-time index constituency.

Recent (monthly)

Recent data unavailable.

Data source: Company filings (aggregated). Computed and published by LENSE Analytics.