Investor glossary: 109 stock metrics in plain words
What P/E, EBITDA, EV/EBITDA, ROE, free cash flow, FFO and a hundred more stock metrics mean: formulas, how to read them, live examples on US stocks.
Explained in detail
Growth26
How much faster a company earns than a year or several years ago: revenue, earnings, EBITDA, cash flow. Year over year (YoY) compares the latest year with the one before, CAGR is the average annual rate over three or five years.
Margins and returns13
How much of each dollar of revenue is left as profit, and how much profit the business earns on its capital and assets.
P/E and PEG6
Price to earnings is the best-known way to judge whether a stock is expensive, plus its adjustment for growth.
EV multiples6
Multiples based on the value of the whole business: EV is market cap plus net debt. They do not depend on how a company is financed and are comparable across companies with different debt.
P/S, P/B, P/CF6
Price to sales, to book value and to cash flow — for when there are no earnings or they swing too much to measure from.
Debt5
How much a company owes relative to its equity and assets, and whether earnings cover the interest.
Dividends15
Dividend yield, payout growth and what share of earnings a company pays out to shareholders.
REITs (FFO and AFFO)28
Real estate trusts measure earnings their own way. Ordinary earnings are understated by building depreciation, so their valuation is built on FFO and AFFO.
Momentum4
How the share price has changed over three, six, nine and twelve months.