Investopedia Terms Flashcards
Weighted Average Cost Of Capital - WACC
Weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is a calculation of a firm’s cost of capital in which each category of capital is proportionately weighted.
All sources of capital, including common stock, preferred stock, bonds and any other long-term debt, are included in a WACC calculation. A firm’s WACC increases as the beta and rate of return on equity increase, as an increase in WACC denotes a decrease in valuation and an increase in risk.
To calculate WACC, multiply the cost of each capital component by its proportional weight and take the sum of the results. The method for calculating WACC can be expressed in the following formula:
Formula for Weighted Average Cost Of Capital (WACC)
Where:
Re = cost of equity
Rd = cost of debt
E = market value of the firm’s equity
D = market value of the firm’s debt
V = E + D = total market value of the firm’s financing (equity and debt)
E/V = percentage of financing that is equity
D/V = percentage of financing that is debt
Tc = corporate tax rate
Explanation of Formula Elements
Cost of equity (Re) can be a bit tricky to calculate, since share capital does not technically have an explicit value. When companies pay debt, the amount they pay has a predetermined associated interest rate that debt depends on size and duration of the debt, though the value is relatively fixed. On the other hand, unlike debt, equity has no concrete price that the company must pay. Yet, that doesn’t mean there is no cost of equity. Since shareholders will expect to receive a certain return on their investment in a company, the equity holders’ required rate of return is a cost from the company’s perspective, since if the company fails to deliver this expected return, shareholders will simply sell off their shares, which leads to a decrease in share price and in the company’s value. The cost of equity, then, is essentially the amount that a company must spend in order to maintain a share price that will satisfy its investors.
Calculating cost of debt (Rd), on the other hand, is a relatively straightforward process. To determine the cost of debt, use the market rate that a company is currently paying on its debt. If the company is paying a rate other than the market rate, you can estimate an appropriate market rate and substitute it in your calculations instead.
There are tax deductions available on interest paid, which is often to companies’ benefit. Because of this, the net cost of companies’ debt is the amount of interest they are paying, minus the amount they have saved in taxes as a result of their tax-deductible interest payments. This is why the after-tax cost of debt is Rd (1 - corporate tax rate).
Inverted Yield Curve
An inverted yield curve is an interest rate environment in which long-term debt instruments have a lower yield than short-term debt instruments of the same credit quality. This type of yield curve is the rarest of the three main curve types and is considered to be a predictor of economic recession.
Debt Ratio
The debt ratio is a financial ratio that measures the extent of a company’s leverage. The debt ratio is defined as the ratio of total debt to total assets, expressed as a decimal or percentage. It can be interpreted as the proportion of a company’s assets that are financed by debt.
The debt ratio is also referred to as the debt-to-assets ratio.
Porter’s 5 Forces
Porter’s Five Forces is a model that identifies and analyzes five competitive forces that shape every industry, and helps determine an industry’s weaknesses and strengths. Frequently used to identify an industry’s structure to determine corporate strategy, Porter’s model can be applied to any segment of the economy to search for profitability and attractiveness.
Monetary Policy
Monetary policy consists of the actions of a central bank, currency board or other regulatory committee that determine the size and rate of growth of the money supply, which in turn affects interest rates. Monetary policy is maintained through actions such as modifying the interest rate, buying or selling government bonds, and changing the amount of money banks are required to keep in the vault (bank reserves).
Cash Conversion Cycle - CCC
The cash conversion cycle (CCC) is a metric that expresses the length of time, in days, that it takes for a company to convert resource inputs into cash flows. The cash conversion cycle attempts to measure the amount of time each net input dollar is tied up in the production and sales process before it is converted into cash through sales to customers. This metric looks at the amount of time needed to sell inventory, the amount of time needed to collect receivables, and the length of time the company is afforded to pay its bills without incurring penalties.
Dividend Yield
A financial ratio that indicates how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. Dividend yield is represented as a percentage and can be calculated by dividing the dollar value of dividends paid in a given year per share of stock held by the dollar value of one share of stock.
Gross Profit Margin
Gross profit margin is a financial metric used to assess a company’s financial health and business model by revealing the proportion of money left over from revenues after accounting for the cost of goods sold (COGS). Gross profit margin, also known as gross margin, is calculated by dividing gross profit by revenues. Also known as “gross margin.”
Trailing Stop
A trailing stop is a stop order that can be set at a defined percentage away from a security’s current market price. An investor places a trailing stop for a long position below the security’s current market price; for a short position, they set it above the current price. A trailing stop is designed to protect gains by enabling a trade to remain open and continue to profit as long as the price is moving in the investor’s favor but closes the trade if the price changes direction by a specified percentage. A trailing stop can also specify a dollar amount instead of a percentage.
Rollover
A rollover occurs when reinvesting funds from a mature security into a new issue of the same or a similar security; transferring the holdings of one retirement plan to another without suffering tax consequences; or moving a forex position to the following delivery date. The distribution from a retirement plan is reported on IRS Form 1099-R and may be limited to one per annum for each IRA. The forex rollover fee arising from the difference in interest rates between the two currencies underlying a transaction is paid to the broker.
Pip
A pip is the smallest price move that a given exchange rate makes based on market convention. Since most major currency pairs are priced to four decimal places, the smallest change is that of the last decimal point; for most pairs, this is the equivalent of 1/100 of 1%, or one basis point. For example, the smallest move that the USD/CAD currency pair can make is $0.0001, or one basis point.
Forex - FX
Forex (FX) is the market in which currencies are traded. The forex market is the largest, most liquid market in the world, with average traded values that can be trillions of dollars per day. It includes all of the currencies in the world.
The forex is the largest market in the world in terms of the total cash value traded, and any person, firm or country may participate in this market.
Currency Pair
A currency pair is the quotation and pricing structure of the currencies traded in the forex market; the value of a currency is a rate and is determined by its comparison to another currency. The first listed currency of a currency pair is called the base currency, and the second currency is called the quote currency. The currency pair indicates how much of the quote currency is needed to purchase one unit of the base currency.
Over-The-Counter - OTC
Over-the-counter (OTC) is a security traded in some context other than on a formal exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Toronto Stock Exchange or the NYSE MKT, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). The phrase “over-the-counter” can be used to refer to stocks that trade via a dealer network as opposed to on a centralized exchange. It also refers to debt securities and other financial instruments, such as derivatives, which are traded through a dealer network.
Hedge
A hedge is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in an asset. Normally, a hedge consists of taking an offsetting position in a related security, such as a futures contract.
Duration
Duration is a measure of the sensitivity of the price – the value of principal – of a fixed-income investment to a change in interest rates. Duration is expressed as a number of years. Bond prices are said to have an inverse relationship with interest rates. Therefore, rising interest rates indicate bond prices are likely to fall, while declining interest rates indicate bond prices are likely to rise.
Operating Margin
Operating margin measures how much profit a company makes on a dollar of sales, after paying for variable costs of production such as wages and raw materials, but before paying interest or tax. It is calculated by dividing a company’s operating profit by its net sales.
Yield To Maturity - YTM
Yield to maturity (YTM) is the total return anticipated on a bond if the bond is held until it matures. Yield to maturity is considered a long-term bond yield, but is expressed as an annual rate. In other words, it is the internal rate of return (IRR) of an investment in a bond if the investor holds the bond until maturity and if all payments are made as scheduled.
Liquidity Ratios
Liquidity ratios measure a company’s ability to pay debt obligations and its margin of safety through the calculation of metrics including the current ratio, quick ratio and operating cash flow ratio. Current liabilities are analyzed in relation to liquid assets to evaluate the coverage of short-term debts in an emergency. Bankruptcy analysts and mortgage originators use liquidity ratios to evaluate going concern issues, as liquidity measurement ratios indicate cash flow positioning.
Receivables Turnover Ratio
The receivables turnover ratio is an accounting measure used to quantify a firm’s effectiveness in extending credit and in collecting debts on that credit. The receivables turnover ratio is an activity ratio measuring how efficiently a firm uses its assets.
Treasury Yield
Treasury yield is the return on investment, expressed as a percentage, on the U.S. government’s debt obligations. Looked at another way, the Treasury yield is the interest rate that the U.S. government pays to borrow money for different lengths of time.
Return on Assets
Return on assets (ROA) is an indicator of how profitable a company is relative to its total assets. ROA gives a manager, investor, or analyst an idea as to how efficient a company’s management is at using its assets to generate earnings.
Fibonacci Retracement
A Fibonacci retracement is a term used in technical analysis that refers to areas of support (price stops going lower) or resistance (price stops going higher). Fibonacci retracement levels use horizontal lines to indicate areas of support or resistance at the key Fibonacci levels before the trend continues in the original direction. These levels are created by drawing a trendline between the high and low and then dividing the vertical distance by the key Fibonacci ratios of 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8% and 100%.
Book Value
Book value of an asset is the value at which the asset is carried on a balance sheet and calculated by taking the cost of an asset minus the accumulated depreciation. Book value is also the net asset value of a company, calculated as total assets minus intangible assets (patents, goodwill) and liabilities. For the initial outlay of an investment, book value may be net or gross of expenses such as trading costs, sales taxes, service charges and so on.
Cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because of this security feature. A defining feature of a cryptocurrency, and arguably its most endearing allure, is its organic nature; it is not issued by any central authority, rendering it theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation.
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority - FINRA
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) resulted from the merger of the New York Stock Exchange’s regulatory committee and the National Association of Securities Dealers. FINRA, as a regulatory body, is tasked with governing all business dealings conducted between dealers, brokers and all public investors. The consolidation of these two regulators aims into FINRA aims to do away with overlapping regulation and inefficient costs. At its origin, FINRA was known as SIRA, the Securities Industry Regulatory Authority, but there were numerous complaints because the name carried a strong similarity to the Arabic term “Sirah,” a term used for biographical texts about the life of Muhammad.
Initial Public Offering - IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) is the first time that the stock of a private company is offered to the public. IPOs are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking capital to expand, but they can also be done by large privately owned companies looking to become publicly traded. In an IPO, the issuer obtains the assistance of an underwriting firm, which helps determine what type of security to issue, the best offering price, the amount of shares to be issued and the time to bring it to market.
Cost of Goods Sold - COGS
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the direct costs attributable to the production of the goods sold in a company. This amount includes the cost of the materials used in creating the good along with the direct labor costs used to produce the good. It excludes indirect expenses such as distribution costs and sales force costs.
Profit & Loss Statement - P & L
A profit and loss statement (P&L) is a financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time, usually a fiscal quarter or year. These records provide information about a company’s ability – or lack thereof – to generate profit by increasing revenue, reducing costs, or both. The P&L statement is also referred to as “statement of profit and loss”, “income statement,” “statement of operations,” “statement of financial results,” and “income and expense statement.”
Monte Carlo Simulation
Monte Carlo simulations are used to model the probability of different outcomes in a process that cannot easily be predicted due to the intervention of random variables. It is a technique used to understand the impact of risk and uncertainty in prediction and forecasting models.
Price Elasticity of Demand
Price elasticity of demand is a measure of the change in the quantity demanded or purchased of a product in relation to its price change.
Sharpe Ratio
The Sharpe ratio is the average return earned in excess of the risk-free rate per unit of volatility or total risk. Subtracting the risk-free rate from the mean return, the performance associated with risk-taking activities can be isolated. One intuition of this calculation is that a portfolio engaging in “zero risk” investment, such as the purchase of U.S. Treasury bills (for which the expected return is the risk-free rate), has a Sharpe ratio of exactly zero. Generally, the greater the value of the Sharpe ratio, the more attractive the risk-adjusted return.
Capital Expenditure - CAPEX
Capital expenditure, or CapEx, are funds used by a company to acquire, upgrade, and maintain physical assets such as property, industrial buildings, or equipment. CapEx is often used to undertake new projects or investments by the firm. This type of financial outlay is also made by companies to maintain or increase the scope of their operations.
Discounted Cash Flow - DCF
Discounted cash flow (DCF) is a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of an investment opportunity. DCF analyses use future free cash flow projections and discounts them, using a required annual rate, to arrive at present value estimates. A present value estimate is then used to evaluate the potential for investment. If the value arrived at through DCF analysis is higher than the current cost of the investment, the opportunity may be a good one.
Revenue
Revenue is the amount of money that a company actually receives during a specific period, including discounts and deductions for returned merchandise. It is the top line or gross income figure from which costs are subtracted to determine net income.
Net Profit Margin
Net profit margin is the ratio of net profits to revenues for a company or business segment . Typically expressed as a percentage, net profit margins show how much of each dollar collected by a company as revenue translates into profit. The equation to calculate net profit margin is: net margin = net profit / revenue.
Financial Advisor
A financial advisor provides financial advice or guidance to customers for compensation. Financial advisors, or advisers, can provide many different services, such as investment management, income tax preparation and estate planning. They must carry the Series 65 license to conduct business with the public; a wide variety of licenses are available for the services provided by a financial advisor.
Cost of Capital
Cost of capital is the required return necessary to make a capital budgeting project, such as building a new factory, worthwhile. Cost of capital includes the cost of debt and the cost of equity. Another way to describe cost of capital is the cost of funds used for financing a business.
Sensitivity Analysis
A sensitivity analysis is a technique used to determine how different values of an independent variable impact a particular dependent variable under a given set of assumptions. This technique is used within specific boundaries that depend on one or more input variables, such as the effect that changes in interest rates have on bond prices.
Terminal Value - TV
Terminal value (TV) represents all future cash flows in an asset valuation model. This allows models to reflect returns that will occur so far in the future that they are nearly impossible to forecast. The Gordon growth model, discounted cash flow and residual earnings all use terminal values that can be calculated with perpetuity growth, while an alternative exit valuation approach employs relative valuation methods.
