League Table

A league table is a ranking of companies based on a set of criteria such as revenue, earnings, deals or any other relevant metrics. The rankings are organized into lists, which can be used for investment research purposes or as promotional material for the companies on the list. League tables are produced by many different research organizations for different functions and can measure different company metrics across varying industries. League tables are not just used in finance, but are used to compare college, sports team, and other statistics as well.

Below is an example of a league table comparing the revenue and % revenue share of four different banks.

Some of the most well-known league tables are those that track the dealings of investment banks, such tables that tally the ongoing deals done by the various banks. League tables can also be used to rank companies by market share within a specific industry. Essentially, if there is a statistic somebody wants to use to sort companies and they can find the necessary data to analyze, a league table of the top ranking companies in that category can be created.

For example, a league table put out by a financial information provider may show all of the merger and acquisition deals that each bank has managed during a yearly period, illustrating the date in terms of the combined dollar value of the deals as well as the share of the merger and acquisition deal market for the period.