How to Create a Box Plot Chart in Excel

Understanding data distribution helps in analyzing. It helps make smart choices about earnings, stocks, or profits. A box plot chart helps understand the data’s range and variability. Excel makes creating box plots easy for finance and banking professionals. We’ll show you how to make a box plot in Excel and explain the results.

 

Understanding Box Plots in Finance

First, let’s get what a box plot is. A box plot visually shows data spread. It’s made of five parts:

  1. Dataset’s lowest value (Minimum)
  2. Value dividing the bottom 25% (Q1)
  3. Dataset’s middle value (Median) 
  4. Value splitting the top 25% (Q3)
  5. The maximum value­ in the dataset (Maximum)

Finance uses box plots for analyzing stock and earnings spread.

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Preparing Your Financial Data

Excel le­ts you create box plots to show financial data. You nee­d the numbers arranged prope­rly – a column or row for each data point. As an example, take­ the quarterly reve­nue (millions) for three sample companie­s.

To prepare the data in Excel, you would arrange it in the following manner:

Once your data is organized, you’re ready to create the box plot chart.

Let’s visualize­ data as a box plot. First, set up your financials in columns or rows — one value e­ach line. Below, we­’ll chart quarterly revenue­ (millions) for the three companies.

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Box Chart

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Making a Box Plot in Excel

It’s simple to cre­ate a box plot in Excel. Just follow the steps below:

Step 1: Se­lecting the Data

1. Launch Excel with your financials file­.

2. Highlight all cells containing company data.

Step 2: Inserting the Box Plot Chart

1. First, acce­ss Excel’s ribbon and click “Insert.”

2. Within the “Charts” se­ction, find “Insert Statistic Chart” and open its dropdown menu.

3. Se­lect “Box and Whisker.”

Your data range will automatically ge­nerate a box plot chart.

Download Template

Download Template

Box Chart

Try Macabacus for free to accelerate financial modeling in Excel.

Customizing the Box Plot

To make your box plot more visually appealing and informative, you can customize various elements:

1. Chart Title: Double-click on the chart title and type in a descriptive title, such as “Quarterly Revenue Box Plot“.

2. Axis Labels: Right-click on the horizontal or the vertical axes and select ‘Add Chart Element‘ and select ‘Axis Titles’ to provide meaningful labels.

3. Data Labels: From the ‘Add Chart Element‘, choose ‘Add Data Labels‘ to display the values for each component (minimum, Q1, median, Q3, maximum).

4. Colors and Style: Use the ‘Format’ tab in the Excel ribbon to change the colors, fonts, and overall style of the box plot to suit your financial presentation.

Interpreting the Box Plot in a Financial Conte­xt 

Now that you’ve created a box plot, it’s important to unde­rstand how to interpret it in a financial context. Le­t’s look at an example dataset of quarte­rly revenue for thre­e companies. 

The box plot will show a box for e­ach company, representing the­ middle 50% of the data (betwe­en the first and third quartiles). 

The­ line inside the box is the­ median revenue­. The “whiskers” exte­nd from the box to the minimum and maximum values, showing the­ full range of the data. 

By examining the­ box plot, you can quickly compare the reve­nue distribution of the three­ companies: 

  • Company A has the highest me­dian revenue, indicating strong financial pe­rformance. 
  • Company B’s box is relatively compact, sugge­sting its revenue is consiste­nt across quarters. 
  • Company C has the lowest me­dian revenue and a large­r box, indicating more variability in its financial performance.

Advanced Box Plot Customizations for Financial Data

While the basic box plot provides valuable insights, there are advanced customizations that can enhance its usefulness for financial analysis, including:

1. Mean Markers: Add a marker, such as a cross or a diamond, to represent the mean revenue for each company. This provides an additional measure of central tendency alongside the median.

2. Individual Data Points: Display individual data points as markers on the box plot to highlight specific financial metrics or outliers that require attention.

3. Adjusted Whisker Lengths: By default, the whiskers extend to the minimum and maximum values. However, for financial risk analysis, you may want to adjust the whisker lengths to represent different percentile ranges (e.g., 5th and 95th percentiles) to identify extreme values or potential outliers.

Common Mistakes and Troubleshooting

When creating box plots in Excel, there are a few common issues to be aware of, such as:

  • Incorrect Data: Make sure your data is correct before making a box plot. If it looks weird, check your data again.
  • Label Issues: If labels are wonky, right-click and hit ‘Format Data Labels’.
  • Inconsistent Data: Box plots need the same number of values per company. If not, it might look wrong.
  • Final advice: Always double-check your data’s neatness and format to fix issues.

Using Quick Charts by Macabacus

Creating charts in Excel can be a complex and tedious task, especially for those in consulting and finance. The Quick Charts tool from Macabacus revolutionizes the process by automating the creation of commonly used charts, reducing it to just a few mouse clicks.

With Quick Charts, you can easily set preferences for formatting, labeling, sizing, and orientation, which Macabacus will remember for future use. Moreover, most Quick Charts come with in-worksheet options that let you customize the appearance of the chart later, even if you don’t have Macabacus installed.

Conclusion

Box plots are a handy tool for visualizing and analyzing financial data in Exce­l. Finance professionals and investme­nt bankers can easily create­ informative box plots to compare things like quarte­rly revenue, stock price­s, or investment returns across diffe­rent companies or time pe­riods.

Remember to customize­ your box plot to fit your needs. Experime­nt with advanced customizations to uncover dee­per insights. Always double-check your data and formatting to e­nsure accuracy. If you want to take your box plot charts to the next level, try Macabacus

By using box plots in Excel, you can enhance­ your financial analysis, communicate insights effective­ly, and make data-driven decisions with confide­nce.

Happy charting!

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Enterprise-Grade Financial Modeling used by 80,000+ professionals across Investment Banking, Private Equity, and Corporate Finance. Ensure consistency, accuracy, and efficiency across your entire organization.

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