Term | Definition |
Alpha | A measure of performance based on the excess return of an investment relative to the return of a benchmark index. |
Active Share | Percentage of how much a portfolio differs from its benchmark index, with 0% indicating no difference and 100% indicating no common holdings. |
Agency Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS) | Debt security composed of a pool of residential loans issued by the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). |
Asset Coverage | Ability to cover debt obligations with assets. |
Basis Point | 1/100th of 1%. |
Beta | Measure of a security or portfolio's volatility compared to the broad market's volatility. |
Book to Market | Common shareholders' equity divided by market capitalization. |
Book Value | Assets minus liabilities. Also known as shareholders’ equity. |
Bullet Security | A debt investment for which the principal is repaid in a balloon payment at maturity. |
Callable Bond | A debt security that can be repaid by the issuer prior to maturity. |
Capital Adequacy Ratio | Capital divided by risk-weighted assets. |
Capital Expenditure (Capex) | Money spent to purchase or upgrade physical assets such as property, plant, and equipment. |
Cash Flow | Amount of cash generated minus the amount of cash used by a company in a given period. |
Cash Pay Bond | Debt security which makes interest payments in cash. |
Commercial Mortgage-Backed Security (CMBS) | Debt security composed of a pool of commercial property loans. |
Consumer Price Index | Measurement by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of price changes over time for a representative basket of goods and services. |
Correlation | Statistical measure of how two securities move in relation to each other. |
Coupon Rate | Annual interest rate on a debt security as a percentage of face value. |
Credit Risk | Likelihood of loss due to a borrower defaulting on a loan. |
Credit Spread | Difference between yields from bonds of similar maturity but different credit quality. |
Discount Rate | Amount of interest charged by the Federal Reserve for short-term loans to commercial banks and other financial institutions. |
Dividend Payout Ratio | Amount of dividends paid to shareholders relative to net income. |
Drawdown | Percentage change in the value of a security or portfolio from a peak to a subsequent trough. |
Dry Powder | Treasuries or other debt securities that can be liquidated on short notice. |
Dividend Yield | Dividends per share divided by price per share. |
Dot Plot | Data points plotted on a graph to show trends such as projected interest rates. |
Duration | Weighted maturity of a fixed-income investment’s cash flows, used in the estimation of the price sensitivity of fixed-income securities for a given change in interest rates. |
EBITDA | Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. |
Enterprise Value | Market capitalization plus debt, minority interest, and preferred shares, minus total cash and cash equivalents. |
Enterprise Value/EBIT | Market capitalization plus debt, minority interest, and preferred shares, minus total cash and cash equivalents, divided by earnings before interest and taxes. |
Enterprise Value/EBITDA | Market capitalization plus debt, minority interest, and preferred shares, minus total cash and cash equivalents, divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. |
Enterprise Value/Free Cash Flow | Market capitalization plus debt, minority interest, and preferred shares, minus total cash and cash equivalents divided by total cash flow from operations less capital expenditures. |
Enterprise Value/Sales | Market capitalization plus debt, minority interest, and preferred shares, minus total cash and cash equivalents, divided by annual sales. |
Federal Funds Rate | Amount of interest depository institutions charge to lend reserve funds overnight to other depository institutions. |
Floating Rate Note | Debt instrument that pays a variable rate of interest. |
Forward Earnings | Consensus earnings estimates for a future period, usually the next 12 months or next fiscal year. |
Forward Price/Earnings | Price per share divided by earnings per share expected over the next 12 months or next fiscal year. |
Free Cash Flow | Total cash flow from operations less capital expenditures. |
Gap Down | Significant decrease in price of a financial instrument between market close and opening, or when there is little to no trading. |
Graham-and-Dodd Investment Approach | Method described by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd in their 1934 book Security Analysis which seeks to identify securities that may be underpriced relative to their estimated intrinsic value. |
Idiosyncratic Risk | Possibility of loss prevalent in a particular asset class. |
Indenture | Legal contract between a bond issuer and bondholder. |
Interest Coverage | Earnings before interest and taxes during a given period divided by interest expense due in that period. |
Investment Grade | Credit rating that indicates a debt instrument has a relatively low risk of default. |
LIBOR | London Interbank Offered Rate. A survey of what London banks expect to pay to borrow overnight from other London banks. |
Long-Term Consensus Earnings Per Share | A forecast of a company's earnings growth over a longer period, typically three to five years or more. It's based on the average or median of estimates from analysts who track a company's stock. |
Margin Call | Request from a broker to increase a margin account's balance when it falls below a required minimum. |
Margin of Safety | Discount of a security’s market price to what the firm believes is the intrinsic value of that security. |
Market Capitalization | Number of common shares outstanding multiplied by market price per share. |
Net Asset Value | Total assets minus liabilities, divided by the number of outstanding shares. |
Net Present Value | Difference between present value of cash inflows and present value of cash outflows over a given period. |
Net Cash | Total cash minus total debt. |
Net Interest Income | Difference between interest revenue and interest expense. |
Net Interest Margin | Difference between interest revenue and interest expense as a percentage of income-generating assets. |
Net-Net | When a company trades for less than the value of current assets minus all liabilities. |
Nifty Fifty | Nickname for a group of large U.S. companies in the 1960s and '70s, characterized by high price/earnings and consistent earnings growth. |
Normalized Earnings | Earnings adjusted to remove effects of one-time, unusual, or seasonal influences. |
Operating Margin | Operating income divided by net sales. |
Option-Adjusted Spread | Difference between the interest rate paid by a fixed-income security and the risk-free rate of return, adjusted to take into account an embedded option. |
Par Value | Amount a bond issuer promises to repay when the bond matures. |
Patent Cliff | Patent expirations for pharmaceutical companies which typically result in a drop in sales. |
Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index | Measurement by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of changes in prices U.S. consumers pay for goods and services. |
Price/Book | Price per share divided by book value per share. |
Price/Cash Flow | Price per share divided by cash flow per share. |
Price/Earnings | Price per share divided by earnings per share. |
Price/Earnings-to-Growth | The PEG ratio is a company's Price/Earnings ratio divided by its earnings growth rate over a period of time. |
Price/Tangible Book Value | Price per share divided by tangible book value per share. |
Profit Margin | Net income divided by revenue. |
R2 (R-squared) | Percentage of a security or portfolio’s results that was likely caused by the movements of a benchmark index. |
Reflation Trade | Purchase of a security expected to perform well because of or during an economic recovery. |
Return on Assets | Net income divided by total assets. |
Return on Equity | Net income divided by shareholder equity. |
Return on Invested Capital/Return on Capital | Net income minus dividends paid, divided by total capital. |
Secured Debt | Loan backed by the borrower's collateral. |
Sell Side | The part of the financial industry involved with the creation, promotion, analysis, and sale of securities. |
Sharpe Ratio | Portfolio return minus the risk-free rate—such as that of the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond—divided by standard deviation of the portfolio's excess returns. |
Shiller Price/Earnings | Price divided by real (inflation-adjusted) per-share earnings over a 10-year period |
Standard Deviation | A data set's dispersion from its mean. |
Systematic Risk | Possibility of loss inherent to an entire market. Usually considered undiversifiable. |
Systemic Risk | Possibility of loss from a company-level event that could destabilize an entire industry or economy. |
Tangible Book Value | Book value minus intangible assets (e.g., goodwill). |
Tangible Equity | Book value minus intangible assets (e.g., goodwill) and preferred equity. |
Term Structure of Interest Rates | Graph that depicts yields offered by bonds of similar quality at different maturities. |
Total Return | Income plus capital appreciation. |
Tracking error | The standard deviation of the difference between the returns of a portfolio and its benchmark. |
Value Bonds | Debt securities selling at a discount to our estimates of their intrinsic value. |
CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) | Shows the market’s expectation of 30-day volatility. Constructed using the implied volatilities of S&P 500 Index options. |
Working Capital | Current assets minus current liabilities; a measure of a company’s efficiency and short-term financial health. |
Write-Down | Reduction in the book value of an asset. |
Yield | Annual income from an investment (dividend, interest, etc.) divided by the current market price of the investment. |
Yield Curve | Graphical comparison of the relationship between interest rates for loans of various maturities with similar credit quality. |
Yield Spread | Difference in yield from a Treasury security and another debt security of similar maturity. |
Yield to Maturity | The rate of return anticipated on a bond if held until the maturity date |