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Return (finance)
In finance, return is a profit on an investment. It comprises any change in value of the investment, and/or cash flows (or securities, or other investments) which the investor receives from that investment, such as interest payments, coupons, cash dividends, stock dividends or the payoff from a derivative or structured product. It may be measured either in absolute terms (e.g., dollars) or as a percentage of the amount invested. The latter is also called the holding period return. A loss instead of a profit is described as a '' negative return'', assuming the amount invested is greater than zero. To compare returns over time periods of different lengths on an equal basis, it is useful to convert each return into a return over a period of time of a standard length. The result of the conversion is called the rate of return. Typically, the period of time is a year, in which case the rate of return is also called the annualized return, and the conversion process, described below ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of financial economics bridges the two). Finance activities take place in financial systems at various scopes, thus the field can be roughly divided into personal, corporate, and public finance. In a financial system, assets are bought, sold, or traded as financial instruments, such as currencies, loans, bonds, shares, stocks, options, futures, etc. Assets can also be banked, invested, and insured to maximize value and minimize loss. In practice, risks are always present in any financial action and entities. A broad range of subfields within finance exist due to its wide scope. Asset, money, risk and investment management aim to maximize value and minimize volatility. Financial analysis is viability, stability, and profitability asse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of inflation is deflation, a sustained decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index. As prices do not all increase at the same rate, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used for this purpose. The employment cost index is also used for wages in the United States. Most economists agree that high levels of inflation as well as hyperinflation—which have severely disruptive effects on the real economy—are caused by persistent excessive growth in the money supply. Views on low to moderate rates of inflation are more varied. Low or moderate inflation may be attri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Profitability Index
Profitability index (PI), also known as profit investment ratio (PIR) and value investment ratio (VIR), is the ratio of payoff to investment of a proposed project. It is a useful tool for ranking projects because it allows you to quantify the amount of value created per unit of investment. Under capital rationing, PI method is suitable because PI method indicates relative figure i.e. ratio instead of absolute figure. The ratio is calculated as follows: *\text = \frac = 1 + \frac Assuming that the cash flow calculated does not include the investment made in the project, a profitability index of 1 indicates break-even. Any value lower than one would indicate that the project's present value ( PV) is less than the initial investment. As the value of the profitability index increases, so does the financial attractiveness of the proposed project. The PI is similar to the Return on Investment (ROI), except that the net profit is discounted. Example We assume an investment oppor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internal Rate Of Return
Internal rate of return (IRR) is a method of calculating an investment’s rate of return. The term ''internal'' refers to the fact that the calculation excludes external factors, such as the risk-free rate, inflation, the cost of capital, or financial risk. The method may be applied either ex-post or ex-ante. Applied ex-ante, the IRR is an estimate of a future annual rate of return. Applied ex-post, it measures the actual achieved investment return of a historical investment. It is also called the discounted cash flow rate of return (DCFROR)Project Economics and Decision Analysis, Volume I: Deterministic Models, M.A.Main, Page 269 or yield rate. Definition (IRR) The internal rate of return on an investment or project is the "annualized effective compounded return rate" or rate of return that sets the net present value of all cash flows (both positive and negative) from the investment equal to zero. Equivalently, it is the interest rate at which the net present value of the f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capital Budgeting
Capital budgeting in corporate finance is the planning process used to determine whether an organization's long term capital investments such as new machinery, replacement of machinery, new plants, new products, and research development projects are worth the funding of cash through the firm's capitalization structures (debt, equity or retained earnings). It is the process of allocating resources for major capital, or investment, expenditures. An underlying goal, consistent with the overall approach in corporate finance, is to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders. Capital budgeting is typically considered a non-core business activity as it is not part of the revenue model or models of most types of firms, or even a part of daily operations. It holds a strategic financial function within a business. One example of a firm type where capital budgeting is plausibly a part of the core business activities is with investment banks, as their revenue model or models re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Difference Of Squares
In mathematics, the difference of two squares is a squared (multiplied by itself) number subtracted from another squared number. Every difference of squares may be factored according to the identity :a^2-b^2 = (a+b)(a-b) in elementary algebra. Proof The proof of the factorization identity is straightforward. Starting from the left-hand side, apply the distributive law to get :(a+b)(a-b) = a^2+ba-ab-b^2 By the commutative law, the middle two terms cancel: :ba - ab = 0 leaving :(a+b)(a-b) = a^2-b^2 The resulting identity is one of the most commonly used in mathematics. Among many uses, it gives a simple proof of the AM–GM inequality in two variables. The proof holds in any commutative ring. Conversely, if this identity holds in a ring ''R'' for all pairs of elements ''a'' and ''b'', then ''R'' is commutative. To see this, apply the distributive law to the right-hand side of the equation and get :a^2 + ba - ab - b^2. For this to be equal to a^2 - b^2, we must have :ba - ab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volatility (finance)
In finance, volatility (usually denoted by ''σ'') is the degree of variation of a trading price series over time, usually measured by the standard deviation of logarithmic returns. Historic volatility measures a time series of past market prices. Implied volatility looks forward in time, being derived from the market price of a market-traded derivative (in particular, an option). Volatility terminology Volatility as described here refers to the actual volatility, more specifically: * actual current volatility of a financial instrument for a specified period (for example 30 days or 90 days), based on historical prices over the specified period with the last observation the most recent price. * actual historical volatility which refers to the volatility of a financial instrument over a specified period but with the last observation on a date in the past **near synonymous is realized volatility, the square root of the realized variance, in turn calculated using the sum of squ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AM–GM Inequality
In mathematics, the inequality of arithmetic and geometric means, or more briefly the AM–GM inequality, states that the arithmetic mean of a list of non-negative real numbers is greater than or equal to the geometric mean of the same list; and further, that the two means are equal if and only if every number in the list is the same (in which case they are both that number). The simplest non-trivial case – i.e., with more than one variable – for two non-negative numbers and , is the statement that :\frac2 \ge \sqrt with equality if and only if . This case can be seen from the fact that the square of a real number is always non-negative (greater than or equal to zero) and from the elementary case of the binomial formula: :\begin 0 & \le (x-y)^2 \\ & = x^2-2xy+y^2 \\ & = x^2+2xy+y^2 - 4xy \\ & = (x+y)^2 - 4xy. \end Hence , with equality precisely when , i.e. . The AM–GM inequality then follows from taking the positive square root of both sides and then dividing both ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cost Of Capital
In economics and accounting, the cost of capital is the cost of a company's funds (both debt and equity), or from an investor's point of view is "the required rate of return on a portfolio company's existing securities". It is used to evaluate new projects of a company. It is the minimum return that investors expect for providing capital to the company, thus setting a benchmark that a new project has to meet. Basic concept For an investment to be worthwhile, the expected return on capital has to be higher than the cost of capital. Given a number of competing investment opportunities, investors are expected to put their capital to work in order to maximize the return. In other words, the cost of capital is the rate of return that capital could be expected to earn in the best alternative investment of equivalent risk; this is the opportunity cost of capital. If a project is of similar risk to a company's average business activities it is reasonable to use the company's average cost ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cash Flow
A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money: *a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected to happen in the future, are thus uncertain and therefore need to be forecast with cash flows; *a cash flow is determined by its time ''t'', nominal amount ''N'', currency ''CCY'' and account ''A''; symbolically ''CF'' = ''CF''(''t,N,CCY,A''). * it is however popular to use ''cash flow'' in a less specified sense describing (symbolic) payments into or out of a business, project, or financial product. Cash flows are narrowly interconnected with the concepts of value, ''interest rate'' and liquidity. A cash flow that shall happen on a future day ''t''N can be transformed into a cash flow of the same value in ''t''0. Cash flow analysis Cash flows are often transformed into measures that give information e.g. on a company's value and situat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Net Present Value
The net present value (NPV) or net present worth (NPW) applies to a series of cash flows occurring at different times. The present value of a cash flow depends on the interval of time between now and the cash flow. It also depends on the discount rate. NPV accounts for the time value of money. It provides a method for evaluating and comparing capital projects or financial products with cash flows spread over time, as in loans, investments, payouts from insurance contracts plus many other applications. Time value of money dictates that time affects the value of cash flows. For example, a lender may offer 99 cents for the promise of receiving $1.00 a month from now, but the promise to receive that same dollar 20 years in the future would be worth much less today to that same person (lender), even if the payback in both cases was equally certain. This decrease in the current value of future cash flows is based on a chosen rate of return (or discount rate). If for example there exists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
