Definition of Investor
Investor
The owner of a financial asset.
Related Terms:
Organizations that invest, including insurance companies, depository institutions,
pension funds, investment companies, mutual funds, and endowment funds.
In the mortgage pipeline, risk that occurs when the originator commits loan terms to the
borrowers and gets commitments from investors at the time of application, or if both sets of terms are made at closing.
The process by which the corporation communicates with its investors.
The balance of a margin account. Related: buying on margin, initial margin requirement.
Small investors who commit capital for their personal account.
a measure used in academic finance articles to measure the excess returns an investor would have received over a particular time period if he or she were invested in a particular stock.
This is typically used in control and takeover studies, where stockholders are paid a premium for being taken over. Starting some time period before the takeover (often five days before the first announced bid, but sometimes a longer period), the researchers calculate the actual daily stock returns for the target firm and subtract out the expected market returns (usually calculated using the firm’s beta and applying it to overall market movements during the time period under observation).
The excess actual return over the capital asset pricing model-determined expected return market is called an ‘‘abnormal return.’’ The cumulation of the daily abnormal returns over the time period under observation is the CAR. The term CAR(-5, 0) means the CAR calculated from five days before the
announcement to the day of announcement. The CAR(-1, 0) is a control premium, although Mergerstat generally uses the stock price five days before announcement rather than one day before announcement as the denominator in its control premium calculation. However, the CAR for any period other than (-1, 0) is not mathematically equivalent to a control premium.
the rate of return on investment that would be required by a prudent investor to invest in an asset with a specific level risk. Also, a rate of return used to convert a monetary sum, payable or receivable in the future, into present value.
A bond on which interest accrues, but is not paid to the investor during the time of accrual.
The amount of accrued interest is added to the remaining principal of the bond and is paid at maturity.
A measure of selection risk (also known as residual risk) of a mutual fund in relation to the market. A
positive alpha is the extra return awarded to the investor for taking a risk, instead of accepting the market
return. For example, an alpha of 0.4 means the fund outperformed the market-based return estimate by 0.4%.
An alpha of -0.6 means a fund's monthly return was 0.6% less than would have been predicted from the
change in the market alone. In a Jensen Index, it is factor to represent the portfolio's performance that
diverges from its beta, representing a measure of the manager's performance.
This is the quoted ask, or the lowest price an investor will accept to sell a stock. Practically speaking, this
is the quoted offer at which an investor can buy shares of stock; also called the offer price.
Methods of financing in which lenders and equity investors look principally to the
cash flow from a particular asset or set of assets for a return on, and the return of, their financing.
Brokerage house clerical operations that support, but do not include, the trading of stocks and
other securities. Includes all written confirmation and settlement of trades, record keeping and regulatory
compliance.
Back-end loan fund
A mutual fund that charges investors a fee to sell (redeem) shares, often ranging from
4% to 6%. Some back-end load funds impose a full commission if the shares are redeemed within a
designated time, such as one year. The commission decreases the longer the investor holds the shares. The
formal name for the back-end load is the contingent deferred sales charge, or CDSC.
1) When bond yields and prices fall, the market is said to back-up.
2) When an investor swaps out of one security into another of shorter current maturity he is said to back up.
A method developed by BARRA, a consulting firm in
Berkeley, Calif. It is commonly used by institutional investors applying performance attribution analysis to
evaluate their money managers' performances.
Regarding a futures contract, the difference between the cash price and the futures price observed in the
market. Also, it is the price an investor pays for a security plus any out-of-pocket expenses. It is used to
determine capital gains or losses for tax purposes when the stock is sold.
Bear
An investor who believes a stock or the overall market will decline. A bear market is a prolonged period
of falling stock prices, usually by 20% or more. Related: bull.
Benchmark interest rate
Also called the base interest rate, it is the minimum interest rate investors will
demand for investing in a non-Treasury security. It is also tied to the yield to maturity offered on a
comparable-maturity Treasury security that was most recently issued ("on-the-run").
Bid price
This is the quoted bid, or the highest price an investor is willing to pay to buy a security. Practically
speaking, this is the available price at which an investor can sell shares of stock. Related: Ask , offer.
Bond
Bonds are debt and are issued for a period of more than one year. The U.S. government, local
governments, water districts, companies and many other types of institutions sell bonds. When an investor
buys bonds, he or she is lending money. The seller of the bond agrees to repay the principal amount of the
loan at a specified time. Interest-bearing bonds pay interest periodically.
Bond indenture
The contract that sets forth the promises of a corporate bond issuer and the rights of
investors.
Bull
An investor who thinks the market will rise. Related: bear.
Bull spread
A spread strategy in which an investor buys an out-of-the-money put option, financing it by
selling an out-of-the money call option on the same underlying.
Bullish, bearish
Words used to describe investor attitudes. Bullish refers to an optimistic outlook while
bearish means a pessimistic outlook.
Buy on margin
A transaction in which an investor borrows to buy additional shares, using the shares
themselves as collateral.
Call money rate
Also called the broker loan rate , the interest rate that banks charge brokers to finance
margin loans to investors. The broker charges the investor the call money rate plus a service charge.
Capital asset pricing model (CAPM)
An economic theory that describes the relationship between risk and
expected return, and serves as a model for the pricing of risky securities. The CAPM asserts that the only risk
that is priced by rational investors is systematic risk, because that risk cannot be eliminated by diversification.
The CAPM says that the expected return of a security or a portfolio is equal to the rate on a risk-free security
plus a risk premium.
Cash offer
A public equity issue that is sold to all interested investors.
Circle
Underwriters, actual or potential, often seek out and "circle" investor interest in a new issue before
final pricing. The customer circled basically made a commitment to purchase the issue if it comes at an
agreed-upon price. In the latter case, if the price is other than that stipulated, the customer supposedly has first
offer at the actual price.
Clientele effect
The grouping of investors who have a preference that the firm follow a particular financing
policy, such as the amount of leverage it uses.
Collateral trust bonds
A bond in which the issuer (often a holding company) grants investors a lien on
stocks, notes, bonds, or other financial asset as security. Compare mortgage bond.
Commodity
A commodity is food, metal, or another physical substance that investors buy or sell, usually via
futures contracts.
Common stock
These are securities that represent equity ownership in a company. Common shares let an
investor vote on such matters as the election of directors. They also give the holder a share in a company's
profits via dividend payments or the capital appreciation of the security.
Confidence indicator
A measure of investors' faith in the economy and the securities market. A low or
deteriorating level of confidence is considered by many technical analysts as a bearish sign.
Covered call writing strategy
A strategy that involves writing a call option on securities that the investor
owns in his or her portfolio. See covered or hedge option strategies.
Currency selection
Asset allocation in which the investor chooses among investments denominated in
different currencies.
Custodial fees Fees
charged by an institution that holds securities in safekeeping for an investor.
Default premium
A differential in promised yield that compensates the investor for the risk inherent in
purchasing a corporate bond that entails some risk of default.
Direct paper
Commercial paper sold directly by the issuer to investors.
Direct placement
Selling a new issue not by offering it for sale publicly, but by placing it with one of several
institutional investors.
Direct stock-purchase programs
The purchase by investors of securities directly from the issuer.
Dividend
A dividend is a portion of a company's profit paid to common and preferred shareholders. A stock
selling for $20 a share with an annual dividend of $1 a share yields the investor 5%.
EDGAR
The Securities & Exchange Commission uses Electronic Data Gathering and Retrieval to transmit
company documents such as 10-Ks, 10-Qs, quarterly reports, and other SEC filings, to investors.
Efficient diversification
The organizing principle of modern portfolio theory, which maintains that any riskaverse
investor will search for the highest expected return for any level of portfolio risk.
Efficient Market Hypothesis
In general the hypothesis states that all relevant information is fully and
immediately reflected in a security's market price thereby assuming that an investor will obtain an equilibrium
rate of return. In other words, an investor should not expect to earn an abnormal return (above the market
return) through either technical analysis or fundamental analysis. Three forms of efficient market hypothesis
exist: weak form (stock prices reflect all information of past prices), semi-strong form (stock prices reflect all
publicly available information) and strong form (stock prices reflect all relevant information including insider
information).
Eurobond
A bond that is (1) underwritten by an international syndicate, (2) offered at issuance
simultaneously to investors in a number of countries, and (3) issued outside the jurisdiction of any single
country.
Euroequity issues
Securities sold in the Euromarket. That is, securities initially sold to investors
simultaneously in several national markets by an international syndicate. Euromarket.
Related: external market
Extendable notes
Note the maturity of which can be extended by mutual agreement of the issuer and
investors.
External market
Also referred to as the international market, the offshore market, or, more popularly, the
Euromarket, the mechanism for trading securities that (1) at issuance are offered simultaneously to investors
in a number of countries and (2) are issued outside the jurisdiction of any single country. Related: internal
market
Fallout risk
A type of mortgage pipeline risk that is generally created when the terms of the loan to be
originated are set at the same time as the sale terms are set. The risk is that either of the two parties, borrower
or investor, fails to close and the loan "falls out" of the pipeline.
Feasible portfolio
A portfolio that an investor can construct given the assets available.
Financial leverage clientele
A group of investors who have a preference for investing in firms that adhere to
a particular financial leverage policy.
Fisher effect
A theory that nominal interest rates in two or more countries should be equal to the required real
rate of return to investors plus compensation for the expected amount of inflation in each country.
Flight to quality
The tendency of investors to move towards safer, government bonds during periods of high
economic uncertainty.
Flip-flop note
Note that allows investors to switch between two different types of debt.
Floating supply
The amount of securities believed to be available for immediate purchase, that is, in the
hands of dealers and investors wanting to sell.
Forward sale
A method for hedging price risk which involves an agreement between a lender and an investor
to sell particular kinds of loans at a specified price and future time.
Fourth market
Direct trading in exchange-listed securities between investors without the use of a broker.
Fund family
Set of funds with different investment objectives offered by one management company. In many
cases, investors may move their assets from one fund to another within the family at little or no cost.
General cash offer
A public offering made to investors at large.
Homemade leverage
Idea that as long as individuals borrow (or lend) on the same terms as the firm, they can
duplicate the affects of corporate leverage on their own. Thus, if levered firms are priced too high, rational
investors will simply borrow on personal accounts to buy shares in unlevered firms.
Homogenous expectations assumption
An assumption of Markowitz portfolio construction that investors
have the same expectations with respect to the inputs that are used to derive efficient portfolios: asset returns,
variances, and covariances.
Imputation tax system
Arrangement by which investors who receive a dividend also receive a tax credit for
corporate taxes that the firm has paid.
Inflation risk
Also called purchasing-power risk, the risk that changes in the real return the investor will
realize after adjusting for inflation will be negative.
Information-motivated trades
Trades in which an investor believes he or she possesses pertinent
information not currently reflected in the stock's price.
Initial margin requirement
When buying securities on margin, the proportion of the total market value of
the securities that the investor must pay for in cash. The Security Exchange Act of 1934 gives the board of
governors of the Federal Reserve the responsibility to set initial margin requirements, but individual
brokerage firms are free to set higher requirements. In futures contracts, initial margin requirements are set by
the exchange.
Initial public offering (IPO)
A company's first sale of stock to the public. Securities offered in an IPO are
often, but not always, those of young, small companies seeking outside equity capital and a public market for
their stock. investors purchasing stock in IPOs generally must be prepared to accept very large risks for the
possibility of large gains. IPO's by investment companies (closed-end funds) usually contain underwriting
fees which represent a load to buyers.
Institutionalization
The gradual domination of financial markets by institutional investors, as opposed to
individual investors. This process has occurred throughout the industrialized world.
International diversification
The attempt to reduce risk by investing in the more than one nation. By
diversifying across nations whose economic cycles are not perfectly correlated, investors can typically reduce
the variability of their returns.
Investments
As a discipline, the study of financial securities, such as stocks and bonds, from the investor's
viewpoint. This area deals with the firm's financing decision, but from the other side of the transaction.
Junk bond
A bond with a speculative credit rating of BB (S&P) or Ba (Moody's) or lower is a junk or high
yield bond. Such bonds offer investors higher yields than bonds of financially sound companies. Two
agencies, Standard & Poors and Moody's investor Services, provide the rating systems for companies' credit.
Leveraged buyout (LBO)
A transaction used for taking a public corporation private financed through the use
of debt funds: bank loans and bonds. Because of the large amount of debt relative to equity in the new
corporation, the bonds are typically rated below investment grade, properly referred to as high-yield bonds or
junk bonds. investors can participate in an LBO through either the purchase of the debt (i.e., purchase of the
bonds or participation in the bank loan) or the purchase of equity through an LBO fund that specializes in
such investments.
Liquidity diversification
Investing in a variety of maturities to reduce the price risk to which holding long
bonds exposes the investor.
Margin
This allows investors to buy securities by borrowing money from a broker. The margin is the
difference between the market value of a stock and the loan a broker makes. Related: security deposit (initial).
Market conversion price
Also called conversion parity price, the price that an investor effectively pays for
common stock by purchasing a convertible security and then exercising the conversion option. This price is
equal to the market price of the convertible security divided by the conversion ratio.
Market portfolio
A portfolio consisting of all assets available to investors, with each asset held -in
proportion to its market value relative to the total market value of all assets.
Market price of risk
A measure of the extra return, or risk premium, that investors demand to bear risk. The
reward-to-risk ratio of the market portfolio.
Market value
1) The price at which a security is trading and could presumably be purchased or sold.
2) The value investors believe a firm is worth; calculated by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the
current market price of a firm's shares.
Medium-term note
A corporate debt instrument that is continuously offered to investors over a period of
time by an agent of the issuer. investors can select from the following maturity bands: 9 months to 1 year,
more than 1 year to 18 months, more than 18 months to 2 years, etc., up to 30 years.
Municipal bond
State or local governments offer muni bonds or municipals, as they are called, to pay for
special projects such as highways or sewers. The interest that investors receive is exempt from some income taxes.
Mutual fund
Mutual funds are pools of money that are managed by an investment company. They offer
investors a variety of goals, depending on the fund and its investment charter. Some funds, for example, seek
to generate income on a regular basis. Others seek to preserve an investor's money. Still others seek to invest
in companies that are growing at a rapid pace. Funds can impose a sales charge, or load, on investors when
they buy or sell shares. Many funds these days are no load and impose no sales charge. Mutual funds are
investment companies regulated by the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Related: open-end fund, closed-end fund.
Mutual fund theorem
A result associated with the CAPM, asserting that investors will choose to invest their
entire risky portfolio in a market-index or mutual fund.
Naive diversification
A strategy whereby an investor simply invests in a number of different assets and
hopes that the variance of the expected return on the portfolio is lowered.
Related: Markowitz diversification.
Negotiated markets
Markets in which each transaction is separately negotiated between buyer and seller (i.e.
an investor and a dealer).
New-issues market
The market in which a new issue of securities is first sold to investors.
Open (good-til-cancelled) order
An individual investor can place an order to buy or sell a security. That
open order stays active until it is completed or the investor cancels it.
Open-market purchase operation
A systematic program of repurchasing shares of stock in market
transactions at current market prices, in competition with other prospective investors.
Operationally efficient market
Also called an internally efficient market, one in which investors can obtain
transactions services that reflect the true costs associated with furnishing those services.
Optimal portfolio
An efficient portfolio most preferred by an investor because its risk/reward characteristics
approximate the investor's utility function. A portfolio that maximizes an investor's preferences with respect
to return and risk.
Option
Gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a set price on or before a
given date. investors, not companies, issue options. investors who purchase call options bet the stock will be
worth more than the price set by the option (the strike price), plus the price they paid for the option itself.
Buyers of put options bet the stock's price will go down below the price set by the option. An option is part of
a class of securities called derivatives, so named because these securities derive their value from the worth of
an underlying investment.
Outstanding shares
Shares that are currently owned by investors.
Overreaction hypothesis
The supposition that investors overreact to unanticipated news, resulting in
exaggerated movement in stock prices followed by corrections.
Oversubscribed issue
investors are not able to buy all of the shares or bonds they want, so underwriters must
allocate the shares or bonds among investors. This occurs when a new issue is underpriced or in great demand
because of growth prospects.
Pass-through rate
The net interest rate passed through to investors after deducting servicing, management,
and guarantee fees from the gross mortgage coupon.
Policy asset allocation
A long-term asset allocation method, in which the investor seeks to assess an
appropriate long-term "normal" asset mix that represents an ideal blend of controlled risk and enhanced
return.
Portfolio separation theorem
An investor's choice of a risky investment portfolio is separate from his
attitude towards risk. Related:Fisher's separation theorem.
Preferred equity redemption stock (PERC)
Preferred stock that converts automatically into equity at a
stated date. A limit is placed on the value of the shares the investor receives.
Preferred habitat theory
A biased expectations theory that believes the term structure reflects the
expectation of the future path of interest rates as well as risk premium. However, the theory rejects the
assertion that the risk premium must rise uniformly with maturity. Instead, to the extent that the demand for
and supply of funds does not match for a given maturity range, some participants will shift to maturities
showing the opposite imbalances. As long as such investors are compensated by an appropriate risk premium
whose magnitude will reflect the extent of aversion to either price or reinvestment risk.
Preferred shares
Preferred shares give investors a fixed dividend from the company's earnings. And more
importantly: preferred shareholders get paid before common shareholders. See: preferred stock.
Price/earnings ratio (PE ratio)
Shows the "multiple" of earnings at which a stock sells. Determined by dividing current
stock price by current earnings per share (adjusted for stock splits). Earnings per share for the P/E ratio is
determined by dividing earnings for past 12 months by the number of common shares outstanding. Higher
"multiple" means investors have higher expectations for future growth, and have bid up the stock's price.
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