Overheads or administrative overheads; usually the most important element of operating costs; largely fixed costs with some variable elements....more on S,G & A
SAC
Subscriber acquisition cost. The total cost of signing up a new customer; often used by mobile phone networks....more on SAC
Sales mix
The proportion of sales coming form different products or services....more on Sales Mix
US legislation that imposed heavy regulation which lead to very high compliance costs...more on Sarbanes-Oxley
Sales, general and administrative costs
Overheads or administrative overheads; usually the most important element of operating costs; largely fixed costs with some variable elements....more on Sales, general and administrative costs
A re-organisation of a company's financial structure, agreed between the company and either creditors or holders of securities, and approved by a court....more on Scheme of arrangement
Scrip dividend
A scrip issue made in lieu of a cash dividend with shareholders given the choice of cash or scrip....more on Scrip dividend
Scrip issue
The issue of new shares to existing shareholders at no charge in proportion to their existing shareholdings. It is basically a bookkeeping exercise....more on Scrip issue
Secondary listing
A security that has a primary listing in one marker may have secondary listings elsewhere....more on Secondary listing
Secondary market
Trading in securities between investors, as opposed to the sale of securities from issuers to investors....more on Secondary market
Sector
A grouping of companies in the same industry or otherwise similar. Sectors and sector indices are used as benchmarks for comparison....more on Sector
Sector PE
Total market capitalisation of the sector ÷ total net profits....more on Sector PE
Secular trend
A sustainable underlying trend, as opposed to a seasonal variation...more on Secular trend
The creation of debt securities backed by cash flows, with no recourse to the borrower....more on Securitisation
Security
A financial instrument that entitles the owner to some stream of future cash flows, or an asset that has been used to secure a loan....more on Security
SEDOL code
Stock Exchange Daily List Code. A numbers that uniquely identifies a UK listed securities, and a component of their ISIN codes....more on SEDOL code
Sell side analyst
An analyst (usually employed by a stockbroker) who writes detailed investment research that is circulated to clients....more on Sell side analyst
The classification of people by social and economic class. The commonest system runs from A (professional) to E (casual labourers) based on occupation....more on Social grades
The separation of one of a company's businesses...more on Spin-off
Split capital investment trusts
An investment trust that issues two classes of shares: income shares that pay high dividends and zeros for pure capital gains....more on Split capital investment trusts
Spot price
The price of a commodity, currency or security with payment and delivery made as soon as settlement systems permit....more on Spot price
SPV (SPE)
A company that is created solely for a particular financial transaction or series of transactions...more on SPV (SPE)
Stag
Someone who buys shares through an IPO with the intention of selling as soon as dealing starts....more on Stag
The root of the sum of the squares of the differences between a series of numbers and their average; a statistical measure of how much the series varies....more on Standard deviation
Statistical arbitrage
A market neutral trading strategy based on expected reversions to past relationships between securities prices....more on statistical arbitrage
The price at which a derivative gives the right (or obligation) to buy or sell the underlying security. Also called the exercise price....more on Strike price
Strips
Securities created by separating the repayments of a bond to create standalone securities....more on Strips
A style index is an index that provides a measure of how a particular investment style has performed, either in a particular market or globally...more on Style index
Submarine patent
A patent that is deliberately kept quite, in the hope of extracting money later from those who use an idea believing it not to be patented...more on Submarine patent
Subordinated debt
Debt that takes a lower priority than other debt if the event of the issuer's liquidation....more on Subordinated debt
Revenues paid by subscribers fixed periodic payments, stable compared with those that depend on the consumption of services....more on Subscription revenues
Subsidiary
A company owned or controlled by another. The controlling company is called the parent company....more on Subsidiary
Sum of parts valuation
The valuation of a company by separately valuing different parts of it so different valuation methods or ratios can be applied to disparate businesses....more on Sum of parts valuation
Sunk costs
Costs which have already been made and can not be recovered....more on Sunk costs
Survivorship bias
The exaggeration of returns because calculations fail to include securities or markets that have ceased to existed....more on Survivorship bias
Swaps
An agreement to exchange one stream of cash flows for another, often used to switch currencies and interest rates (fixed vs floating)....more on Swaps
A group of financial institutions that divide a loan, underwriting or similar undertaking between themselves in order to spread risk....more on Syndicate
Synergy
The gains made by combining parts, for example the cost savings that result from an acquisition....more on Synergy
Systemic risk
The risk of failure of the financial system or an economy, as opposed to just the risk of failure of one corporation....more on Systemic risk
Synthetic security
A packaged combination of securities that mimics the properties of another security...more on Synthetic security
T-bill
An abbreviation of treasury bill; a short term zero coupon government bond....more on T-bill
Take private
The purchase of and de-listing of a company so it returns to being a privately held company....more on Take private
The UK's main regulator of issues connected to mergers and acquisitions....more on Takeover Panel
Tax shield
A tax shield is the adjustment made of the tax saving resulting from a method of financing, usually by using debt rather than equity....more on tax shield
Tangible assets
Assets that have a physical form and financial assets, as opposed to intangible assets....more on Tangible assets
TCO
Total cost of ownership: the cost of buying an asset or system and operating it over its lifetime....more on TCO
Techmark
A grouping of technology companies by the London Stock Exchange....more on Techmark
Technical analysis
The attempt to predict financial markets purely by looking at past financial data (securities prices, indices and other trading data)....more on Technical analysis
The value used for the cash flow in the last year of an NPV; the value of the investment at the end of the last period of the NPV....more on Terminal value
Termination rates
The payment made by a telecoms network originating a phone call, to that to which the call is made....more on Termination rates
Theta
The rate of change of the value of a derivative or portfolio with time...more on Theta
Tick
The unit in which security prices move....more on Tick
TIDM
A memorable code used to identify UK listed securities, usually based on abbreviations of company names....more on TIDM
A newsletter or journal that offers investors advice on stocks....more on Tip sheet
Tobin's Q
Market value of a company's assets ÷ replacement value. Arguably more useful when applied at market level than to individual companies....more on Tobin's Q
Top down investment
A strategy of first deciding how much to investment in asset classes and regions before picking individual stocks....more on Top down investment
Total billings
The amount paid to advertising agencies by clients for the purchase of advertising space. part of the agencies' turnover but not usually recognised as revenue....more on Total billings
Total return
The combined gains on an investment from both capital gains and income....more on Total return
Tracker fund
A collective investment vehicle that is designed to replicate the performance of a particular index....more on Tracker fund
Tracking stock
Securities which are designed to have a value that reflect the value of a division of a company rather than the company as a whole....more on Tracking stock
Trade buyer
In the context of a takeover, a bidder in the same industry as the target....more on Trade buyer
Traded option
An option that can be bought and sold though a securities market...more on Traded option
Trading profit
Operating profit adjusted by excluding certain items, in order to give a better view of the underlying results....more on Trading profit
Financial numbers based on the sum of the last four quarters (or two half years) rather than the last full year....more on trailing twelve months
Transaction comps/deal comps
The use of comparisons of the valuations at which transactions, such as takeovers, have occurred, in valuing a company...more on Transaction comps/deal comps
Transfer pricing
The prices at which goods are sold between divisions of a company, or companies that are part of the same group....more on Transfer pricing
A combination of trades that makes a profit from an inconsistency between exchange rate differentials and the forward premium (discount) on a currency....more on Uncovered interest arbitrage
In the oil and gas industries, exploration and production as opposed to downstream refining and distribution....more on Upstream
Utility
The satisfaction that individuals gain from buying goods or services. A key economic concept....more on Utility
Utility curve
A graph of the relationship between utility an individuals consumption of something....more on Utility curve
Valuation ratios
A measure of how expensive a share is obtained by dividing a measure of cost against a measure of value or profits....more on Valuation ratios
Value added
The difference between the value of inputs and the value of outputs....more on Value added
Value at risk
A measure of the risk of a portfolio; the loss that is unlikely to be exceeded in a given period of time with a given level of confidence....more on Value at risk
A style of investing based on picking shares that have low valuations relative to their current profits, cash flows and dividend yield....more on Value investing
VaR
A measure of the risk of a portfolio; the loss that is unlikely to be exceeded in a given period of time with a given level of confidence....more on VaR
Variable costs
On the other hand variable costs change with sales. Examples of variable costs are raw materials, shipping and depletion....more on Variable costs
Variance
A measure of how much a set of numbers, known or future possibilities, varies...more on Variance
Vega
The rate of change of the price of a derivative or portfolio with the volatility of an underlying security...more on Vega
The use of internet protocol networks to carry voice phone calls. Can be less reliable if the network used is not structured for this purpose....more on VOIP
Volatility
A statistical measure of the risk of holding a security; the standard deviation of expected returns on a security....more on Volatility
Vulture capitalist
Either a venture capitalist who deprives inventors and entrepreneurs of control of their businesses, or an investor who specialises in bottom fishing....more on Vulture capitalist
VWAP
The average price at which a security sold in a period (usually the last hour) before the close of a day's trading....more on VWAP
WACC
The weighted average of the rates of return required by all of a company’s sources of capital....more on WACC
Walled garden
Access to a telecoms services restricted to the providers own content....more on Walled garden
Warrants
A security similar to a call option. If a holder exercises a warrant, new shares will be issued to the holder....more on Warrants
Warrant premium
The amount by which the cost of buying and exercising a warrant exceeds the cost of buying the underlying shares directly....more on Warrant premium
Weighted average
A weighted average is more heavily influenced by some of the numbers it is calculated from than others....more on Weighted average
The part of stocks (inventory) that has had some work done on it, but which has not yet been made into goods ready for sale....more on WIP
WLAN
The replacement of cables in computer networks with more convenient radio links....more on WLAN
Work in progress
The part of stocks (inventory) that has had some work done on it, but which has not yet been made into goods ready for sale....more on Work in progress
Working capital
The amount of money that a company has tied up in funding its day to day operations....more on Working capital
Write down
The recognition, in the accounts, of the diminution of the value of an asset....more on Write down
Written down value
The book value of an asset; the value at which the asset is included in the accounts...more on Written down value
XBRL
An electronic format for transferring financial information between different IT systems...more on XBRL