Examination of financial performance of manufacturing sector companies through panel data analysis: An application on Borsa Istanbul (BIST)

Businesses are required to generate a certain level of profit in order to sustain their operations and grow. Profitability represents an important factor that reflects the success of management, the satisfaction of shareholders, and the interest of investors. Profitability holds a significant place among companies operating in the manufacturing sector. The investigation of the factors determining corporate profitability has attracted the attention of various scientific disciplines over time and has been widely examined. Within this scope, in this thesis study, panel data analysis was conducted using the data of 130 manufacturing firms operating in Turkey and listed on Borsa Istanbul (BIST) for the period 2014-2024, and the results were examined comparatively for each sub-sector. In the study, financial performance indicators, namely return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), earnings per share, net profit margin, and Tobin's Q, were used as dependent variables. As independent variables, indicators representing the financial structure of firms were employed, such as the current ratio, inventory turnover, asset growth rate, fixed assets to total assets ratio, firm size, total debt to total assets ratio, and non-debt tax shield. The results obtained reveal that the factors affecting the financial performance of manufacturing industry sub-sectors differ according to the operational structure, cost characteristics, production processes, capital structure, and market conditions of the sectors.