The stocks on an exchange that had the highest volume over a given period. The most common time period used is a single trading day. Generally, most-active stocks are those with the most shares traded over one day. Usually, stocks experience higher-than-normal trading volume due to significantly important new information affecting the stock reaching the market. This creates a strong impetus amongst investors to either buy or sell the stock, resulting in heavier trading volume, and often strong momentum in the stock as well.
A form of investing in which the main goal is to gain sufficient assets to meet all liabilities, both current and future. This form of investing is most prominent with defined-benefit pension plans, whose liabilities can often reach into the billions of dollars for the largest of plans. |||LDIs are most prominent in the funding schemes of defined-benefit pension plans, which are designed to provide a predetermined pension upon retirement. The liabilities in these funds arise as a result of the "guaranteed" pensions they are supposed to provide to members upon retirement. In the early 2000s, the entire structure of the defined-benefit scheme was criticized as being faulty. The liabilities that sponsoring companies and plan members must pay for has increased substantially, which has caused some pension plans to reduce benefits to retired members, or even to shut down entirely.
A type of municipal agreement that pays holders based on revenues generated from real estate. Financial institutions also typically offer these bonds at relatively low interest rates. Proceeds are used to provide funds to these institutions, which in return use the funds to make low interest rate mortgage loans. Municipalities would use such bonds to fund public construction projects, for example. Borrowers of these mortgages are responsible for interest and principal payments. Watch: Mortgage-Backed Securities Sometimes referred to as a housing bond, which is issued by a local housing authority. These bonds can either be short- or long-term, and are often used for construction of low- or middle-income housing or projects that help the community and the environment. Short-term bonds are typically sold as $5,000 denominations with a maturity that varies between 18 months to four years. Longer-term bonds are issued under federal agency contracts.
A scholar and financial analyst who is widely recognized as the father of value investing. His famous book, "The Intelligent Investor", has gained recognition as one of the best and most important investment pieces written illustrating the fundamentals of a value-investing strategy. Taobiz explains Benjamin Graham Graham had a profound influence on his pupil Warren Buffett, who would become the most famous investor of all time, in grad school at Columbia University. Graham instilled the fundamental principles of value investing into Buffett - principles upon which he relied to amass one of the world's largest personal fortunes.
The acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (bonds or loans) to meet the cost of acquisition. Often, the assets of the company being acquired are used as collateral for the loans in addition to the assets of the acquiring company. The purpose of leveraged buyouts is to allow companies to make large acquisitions without having to commit a lot of capital. |||In an LBO, there is usually a ratio of 90% debt to 10% equity. Because of this high debt/equity ratio, the bonds usually are not investment grade and are referred to as junk bonds. Leveraged buyouts have had a notorious history, especially in the 1980s when several prominent buyouts led to the eventual bankruptcy of the acquired companies. This was mainly due to the fact that the leverage ratio was nearly 100% and the interest payments were so large that the company's operating cash flows were unable to meet the obligation. One of the largest LBOs on record was the acquisition of HCA Inc. in 2006 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Bain & Co., and Merrill Lynch. The three companies paid around $33 billion for the acquisition. It can be considered ironic that a company's success (in the form of assets on the balance sheet) can be used against it as collateral by a hostile company that acquires it. For this reason, some regard LBOs as an especially ruthless, predatory tactic.
A standard against which the performance of a security, mutual fund or investment manager can be measured. Generally, broad market and market-segment stock and bond indexes are used for this purpose. Taobiz explains Benchmark When evaluating the performance of any investment, it's important to compare it against an appropriate benchmark. In the financial field, there are dozens of indexes that analysts use to gauge the performance of any given investment including the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Russell 2000 Index and even competitor fund.
A term used by medical companies and professionals to signify that a procedure or drug has been recognized to be advisable or necessary. New indications refer to new applications of an existing prevention, diagnosis or treatment of a disease. It is a positive report provided by credible professionals through established testing techniques. The next step is usually clinical trials before official approval by the country's regulatory association. News releases on medical treatments and pharmaceutical companies often use the term new indications when referring to drugs or equipment. For example, drug company ABC could announce the new indication for Drug Z. This would signal a potentially higher demand for drug Z because of forecasted additional uses on top of previous ones. This could also signal the underlying company's potentially higher share value.
1. An agreement that describes in detail a corporation's intention to execute a corporate action. The letter of intent is created by the corporation with its management and legal council, among others, and outlines the details of the action.2. A document that can be used by parents to outline the thoughts and hopes that they have regarding their children in the event that the parents die. The courts use the information contained in the letter of intent to determine what happens to the children. |||1. Letters of intent are used during the merger and acquisitions process to outlines a firm's plan to buy/take over another company. For example, the letter of intent will disclose the specific terms of the transaction (whether it is a cash or stock deal).2. Unlike wills, letters of intent are often not legal documents. However, because a letter of intent represents the wishes and desires of the parents, the courts will still often use it as a benchmark in conjunction with other documents to determine what happens to the children.