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| QUOTE The current priced for buying and selling a share offered by a market maker. |
| Return on Assets (ROA) The rate of investment return a company earns on its assets. ROA is determined by dividing net income from the past 12 months by total assets. The result is shown as a percentage. Unlike ROE, ROA ignores a company's liabilities. |
| Return on Equity (ROE) The rate of investment return a company earns on shareholders' equity. An indicator of profitability, ROE is determined by diving net income from the past 12 months by shareholders' equity. This statistic shows how effectively a company is using its investors' money. Contrast with ROA. |
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Revenues Revenues include all net sales of the company plus any other revenues associated with the main operations of the business (or those labeled as operating revenues). It does not include not include dividends, interest income or non-operating income. |
| REVERSE YEILD GAP The difference between the return on shares and the return on fixed interest investments. Shares used to yield more than gilts because they were considered riskier investments. Inflation has reversed that assumption - fixed-interest investments now yield more than equities. |
| Rolling Settlement means that shares have to be paid for within a certain number of days following each transaction. This will replace the traditional Stock Exchange ACCOUNT system. |
| Share Outstanding Share of common stock that are currently owned by investor. |
| Shorts Market term for gilts (government securities) that have less than five years to go before repayment. |
| Stockbroker Someone who buys and sells shares and other Stock Exchange securities on behalf of clients. |
| Suspension Trading in a share can be halted by the Stock Exchange - a company might ask for a temporary suspension of dealings - if a takeover bid is under discussion for instance. Sometimes a suspension means bad news is on the way. |
| TENDER A way of auctioning shares or gilt-edged securities to the highest bidders. A guide is announced - then investors have to make up their own minds how much to offer for the amount of stock they want. |
| Total Assets Total current assets plus total non-current assets. Non-current assets include property, plant and equipment, and other non-current receivables and investments. |
| Total Liabilities Total current liabilities plus long-term debt and deferred income taxes. |
| Total Return The price change plus dividend return for a stock over the last 12 months or three years (whichever is indicated). |
| Touch Competing market makers quote slightly different prices for a share. The TOUCH is the difference between the best bid price and the lowest offer price. |
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Trailing P/E Ratio The ratio of a stock's latest closing price divided by earnings per share based on the last reported 12 months of earnings. Companies with negative earnings receive an "NE". See Net EPS. |
| UNDATED SECURITIES have no repayment date. War Loan is one example. |
| Volume The total number of shares traded of a stock during a specific time period. (In this case, it is the latest trading day). Unusually high volume days typically correspond with the announcement of company news, either positive or negative. In the absence of news, high volume can indicate institutional (or professional) buying and selling. See average volume. |
| WORKING CPAITAL is the cash needed to finance the everyday running of a business such as the payment of salaries and the purchase of raw materials. Most companies that go bust do so because a shortage of working capital leads to a CASH FLOW CRISIS. |
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| HEDGE An investment that gives protection - against inflation, for instance, or currency risks |
| INDEX-LINDED means the return from an investment will reflect the official trend in price inflation |
| Insider Dealing If directors, stockbrokers, others close to the company or members of the public deal in its shares on the basis of confidential information they are guilty of a criminal offence. |
| Interest Coverage This ratio measures a firm's ability to pay interest on its debt. It is calculated by dividing net earnings before interest and taxes by the interest expense on bonds and other contractual long-term debt. A low coverage ratio can indicate a company is over-leveraged. A high ratio indicates a margin of safety from default. |
| Inventory The monetary value of a company's raw materials, work in process, supplies used in operations and finished goods. A company with excess inventory on its balance sheet could indicate a slow-down in sales and a lack of pricing power. |
| Issue Price Price at which shares are first offered to investors when a company floats on the stockmarket. |
| Junk Bond These are the lowest quality bonds. Since they are riskier, they yield more. Other, more flattering names for them are "high yield" or "non-investment-grade" bonds. See credit risk. |
| KRUGERRANDS are South African coins containing 1 oz of gold, a popular way for small investors to speculate in the gold price. |
| Liquidity Ratio This ratio is a measure of how much dollar volume is required to move a stock's price up or down by one percentage point. A high ratio indicates a stock that requires relatively heavy trading to move its price. A low liquidity ratio indicates a stock that moves on relatively light volume. The ratio is calculated by adding the daily percentage changes of a stock's closing price for each trading day of the month. Then the total dollar volume for the month is divided by this total percentage change figure. |
| LONG If an investor is LONG of a share it means he has bought a lot of it. |
| Longs Market term for government stocks (gilts) that have over 15 years to go until they are due to be repaid. |
| Long-Term Debt Liabilities that are expected to paid after 12 months from the date of the last balance sheet. A company's long-term debt could be in the form of bank debt, mortgage bonds, debenture bonds or other obligations. |
| Market Value The total market value of a company or stock. Also called market capitalization, it is calculated by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the latest closing price of the stock. Generally speaking, small cap stocks have market values below $1 billion, while large-caps have values in excess of $5 billion. Mid-cap fall in-between. |
| MEDIUMS Market for gilts (government securities) that have between five and 15 years to go before repayment. |
| Middle Market Price Halfway between the buying and selling prices of a share. Most newspapers use the MIDDLE PRICE in their daily stockmarket lists for convenience. |
| NET means after deductions. A NET return on an investment describes its value after tax ahs been deducted. |
| Net Earnings Also known as the bottom line, this is the profit a company realizes after all costs, expenses and taxes have been paid. It is calculated by subtracting business, depreciation, interest and tax costs from revenues. Also called net income or net profit. |
| Net EPS Net Earnings-Per-Share (EPS) is the portion of a companies net earnings allocated to each share of stock. It is calculated by dividing net earnings by common shares outstanding adjusted for the assumed conversion of all potentially dilative securities. Securities having a dilative effect may include convertible debentures, warrants, options and convertible preferred stock. |
| Net Margin A company's profitability after all costs, expenses and taxes have been paid. The net margin is calculated by dividing net earnings by revenues and then multiplying by 100. The result is expressed as a percentage. It is used to measure operating efficiency at a company. |
| Nominal Value means the face or par value of shares or other investments as opposed to the MARKET VALUE -what you can buy or sell at now. |
| OFFER PRICE Price at which you buy a share. |
| Operating Margin A company's profitability before non-cash charges. The operating margin is calculated by dividing EBITDA (earnings before interest expensed, taxes, depreciation and amortization) by revenues and then multiplying by 100. It is a measure of operating efficiency at a company. |
| Oversubscribed is when a new issue attracts more applications that there are shares available. |
| Payout Ratio The percent of earnings-per-share (EPS) that was paid out as a dividend. It is calculated by dividing the quarterly dividend by the quarterly EPS and multiplying by 100. |
| PEG The PEG ratio (Price-to-earnings-growth) is calculated by dividing a stock's forward P/E by its projected three-to-five-year annual EPS growth rate. It is used to find companies that are trading at a discount to their projected growth. A PEG ratio of less than one is considered a sign that a stock is a good value. Generally speaking, the higher the PEG, the pricier the stock. |
| PREFERENCE SHARES rank before ordinary shares for dividend payments, and in the even of a company being wound up preference shares must be repaid before equity holders get anything. Preference shares offer a fixed return - the dividends on ordinary shares go up and down depending on profits. |
| Premium Upward difference between issue price of a share or other investment and its market value. |
| Pre-Tax Margin The profitability of a company before taxes are paid. The pre-tax margin is calculated by dividing pre-tax earnings by revenues and then multiplying by 100. The result is expressed as a percentage. |
| Price/Book The ratio of a stock's latest closing price divided by its book value per share. Book value is the total assets of a company minus total liabilities. It is also called shareholders' equity. To get the book-value-per-share figure, shareholders' equity is divided by total shares outstanding. |
| Price/Cash Flow The ratio of a stock's latest closing price divided by cash flow per share for the past 12 months. |
| Price/Sales The ratio of a stock's latest closing price divided by revenue per share. (Sales are the same thing as revenues.) Revenue per share is determined by dividing revenue for the past 12 months by the number of shares outstanding. This ratio is particularly useful for companies that have little or no earnings. |
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