This paper is devoted to the study of a large class of discrete-time backward Riccati equations arising in several linear quadratic (LQ) type control problems both in the deterministic and in the stochastic frameworks. The periodic time-varying case is considered. We propose existence and uniqueness conditions for a global special solution named stabilizing solution for such equations. Beside the stabilizability condition, the criterion derived in this paper is expressed based on some suitable properties of the characteristic multipliers of a discrete-time, periodic linear equation adequately constructed using the coefficients of the given equation. Our result englobes, as particular cases, several existing results in the literature.