YTD

YTD is the abbreviation for Year-To-date. YTD measures differences in a variety of factors affecting an investment from the beginning of the year to today's date. Knowing YTD differences helps an investor make comparisons between different investment options. Typically, investors tend to make YTD price comparisons. An investor looking for the YTD percent price change for a stock would compare the stock's closing price on the last day of last year to the stock's most recent closing price. The YTD change in the value of a portfolio or in the value of an individual stock or mutual fund is one way of assessing the performance of an investment over time. Though less common, there is nothing to prevent an investor to compare other market metrics such as as YTD sales or YTD earnings. While YTD values are an important comparative tool for many types of investments, investors may also wish to compare times frames other than YTD, such as month-to-date or quarter-to-date.