Bell Industries (Bell Industries) Gross Margin % : 20.12% (As of Sep. 2010)

Bell Industries Gross Margin % Chart

Bell Industries Annual Data
	Trend	Dec00	Dec01	Dec02	Dec03	Dec04	Dec05	Dec06	Dec07	Dec08	Dec09
Gross Margin %		Get a 7-Day Free Trial					18.57	18.42	20.95	21.43	20.03

Bell Industries Quarterly Data
	Dec05	Mar06	Jun06	Sep06	Dec06	Mar07	Jun07	Sep07	Dec07	Mar08	Jun08	Sep08	Dec08	Mar09	Jun09	Sep09	Dec09	Mar10	Jun10	Sep10
Gross Margin %	Get a 7-Day Free Trial															19.05	18.36	20.47	21.51	20.12

Competitive Comparison of Bell Industries's Gross Margin %

For the Information Technology Services subindustry, Bell Industries's Gross Margin %, along with its competitors' market caps and Gross Margin % data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.

Bell Industries's Gross Margin % Distribution in the Software Industry

For the Software industry and Technology sector, Bell Industries's Gross Margin % distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Bell Industries's Gross Margin % falls into.

Bell Industries Gross Margin % Calculation

Gross Margin is the percentage of Gross Profit out of sales or Revenue.

Bell Industries's Gross Margin for the fiscal year that ended in Dec. 2009 is calculated as

Bell Industries's Gross Margin for the quarter that ended in Sep. 2010 is calculated as

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

A positive Gross Profit is only the first step for a company to make a net profit. The gross profit needs to be big enough to also cover related labor, equipment, rental, marketing/advertising, research and development and a lot of other costs in selling the products.

Bell Industries  (GREY:BLLI) Gross Margin % Explanation

Warren Buffett believes that firms with excellent long term economics tend to have consistently higher margins.

Durable competitive advantage creates a high Gross Margin % because of the freedom to price in excess of cost. Companies can be categorized by their Gross Margin %

1. Greater than 40% = Durable competitive advantage
2. Less than 40% = Competition eroding margins
3. Less than 20% = no sustainable competitive advantage
Consistency of Gross Margin is key

Bell Industries had a gross margin of 20.12% for the quarter that ended in Sep. 2010 => Competition eroding margins

Be Aware

If a company loses its competitive advantages, usually its gross margin declines well before its sales declines. Watching Gross Margin % and Operating Margin % closely helps avoid value trap situations.

Bell Industries Gross Margin % Related Terms

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Bell Industries (Bell Industries) Business Description