Investments glossary terminology
Buy to cover refers to a buy order made on a stock or other listed security to close out an existing short position. A short sale involves selling shares of a company that an investor does not own, as the shares are borrowed from a broker but need to be repaid at some point.
Main Street is a colloquial term used by economists to refer collectively to America’s independent small businesses. It gets its name from a common name for the principal commercial street of small towns across the country. In England, the equivalent term is High Street.
Lading is the process of loading cargo onto a ship or vessel, and a negotiable bill of lading is one kind of bill of lading. The bill of lading is a legal document between the shipper and carrier, detailing the type, quantity, and destination of goods being carried. The negotiable bill of lading is distinguished by the fact that it is a contract of carriage that can be transferred to a third party.
Average inventory is a calculation that estimates the value or number of a particular good or set of goods during two or more specified time periods. Average inventory is the mean value of an inventory within a certain time period, which may vary from the median value of the same data set, and is computed by averaging the starting and ending inventory values over a specified period.
A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is an investment similar to a bond that is made up of a bundle of home loans bought from the banks that issued them. Investors in MBS receive periodic payments similar to bond coupon payments.
A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is an investment similar to a bond that is made up of a bundle of home loans bought from the banks that issued them. Investors in MBS receive periodic payments similar to bond coupon payments.
Coase Theorem is a legal and economic theory developed by economist Ronald Coase that affirms that where there are complete competitive markets with no transactions costs, an efficient set of inputs and outputs to and from production-optimal distribution will be selected, regardless of how property rights are divided. Further, the Coase Theorem asserts that if conflict arises over property rights under these assumptions, then parties will tend to settle on the efficient set of inputs and output.
3P oil reserves are the total amount of reserves that a company estimates having access to, calculated as the sum of all proved and unproved reserves. The oil industry breaks unproved reserves into two segments: those based on geological and engineering estimates from established sources (probable) and those that are less likely to be extracted due to financial or technical difficulties (possible). Therefore, 3P refers to proved plus probable plus possible reserves.
The Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter refers to a data-smoothing technique. The HP filter is commonly applied during analysis to remove short-term fluctuations associated with the business cycle. Removal of these short-term fluctuations reveals long-term trends. This can help with economic or other forecasting associated with the business cycle.
A product portfolio is the collection of all the products or services offered by a company. Product portfolio analysis can provide nuanced views on a stock type, company growth prospects, profit margin drivers, income contributions, market leadership, and operational risk. This is essential for investors conducting equity research by investors or analysts supporting internal corporate financial planning.