Glossario Finanziario
Termini finanziari chiave spiegati — da Alpha a WACC.
A
B
Bear Market
A period when a major stock index falls 20% or more from its recent peak, typically accompanied by widespread pessimism.
Beta
A measure of a stock's volatility relative to the overall market, where 1.0 means the stock moves in line with the market.
Blue-Chip Stock
Shares of a large, well-established, financially stable company with a long track record of reliable performance.
Bond
A fixed-income debt instrument where an investor loans money to a borrower (government or corporation) in exchange for regular interest payments and return of principal.
Book Value
The net asset value of a company as recorded on its balance sheet — total assets minus total liabilities.
Bull Market
A prolonged period of rising stock prices, typically defined as a 20% or more rise from recent lows, fueled by optimism and strong economic fundamentals.
C
CAGR
Compound Annual Growth Rate — the steady annual growth rate that would take an investment from its beginning value to its ending value over a given period.
Capital Gain
The profit earned when you sell an asset for more than you paid for it.
Compound Interest
Earning returns not just on your original investment, but also on all previously accumulated gains — making wealth grow exponentially over time.
D
DCF (Discounted Cash Flow)
A valuation method that estimates the intrinsic value of a company by projecting its future cash flows and discounting them back to today's dollars.
Dividend
A portion of a company's earnings paid out to shareholders, usually quarterly, as a reward for holding the stock.
Dividend Yield
The annual dividend payment expressed as a percentage of the current stock price — showing how much income you earn relative to what you pay.
Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA)
Investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals regardless of market price, which reduces the impact of volatility over time.
E
Earnings Per Share (EPS)
A company's net profit divided by its number of outstanding shares — the most widely used measure of profitability on a per-share basis.
EBITDA
Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization — a proxy for operating cash profitability that strips out financing and accounting choices.
Enterprise Value (EV)
The total value of a company — market cap plus net debt — representing what it would cost to buy the entire business outright.
ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund)
A basket of securities — stocks, bonds, or commodities — that trades on an exchange like a single stock, offering instant diversification at low cost.
EV/EBITDA
A valuation multiple comparing a company's total value (enterprise value) to its operating earnings — used to compare companies independent of capital structure.
F
Fair Value
The estimated intrinsic price of a stock based on fundamentals — what the business is actually worth, separate from its current market price.
Fear & Greed Index
A composite sentiment indicator measuring market emotions on a 0–100 scale, where 0 is Extreme Fear and 100 is Extreme Greed.
Free Cash Flow (FCF)
The cash a company generates after spending on capital expenditures needed to maintain or expand the business — the truest measure of financial health.
Fundamental Analysis
Evaluating a company's intrinsic value by studying its financial statements, business model, competitive position, and economic environment.
I
Index Fund
A passive investment fund that tracks a market index like the S&P 500, owning all (or most) of its components to match the index's performance at minimal cost.
Inflation
The rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises over time, eroding the purchasing power of money.
Institutional Investor
A large organization — pension fund, endowment, mutual fund, or hedge fund — that invests on behalf of many individuals and manages billions in assets.
Intrinsic Value
The true underlying worth of a company based on its fundamentals — independent of its current market price or investor sentiment.
IPO (Initial Public Offering)
The first time a private company sells its shares to the public on a stock exchange, allowing it to raise capital and giving investors the ability to buy in.
L
M
Margin of Safety
Buying a stock at a significant discount to its estimated intrinsic value — creating a buffer against errors in analysis and unforeseen risks.
Market Capitalization
The total market value of a company's outstanding shares — calculated as share price multiplied by total shares outstanding.
Market Correction
A decline of 10% to 19.9% in a stock index or individual stock from a recent peak — painful but historically a normal and healthy part of markets.
Market Crash
A sudden and severe drop in stock market prices — typically 20% or more in a very short period — driven by panic selling and loss of investor confidence.
Momentum
The tendency of stocks that have recently performed well to continue outperforming, and stocks that have underperformed to continue lagging.
Moving Average
The average price of a security over a specific number of past periods, updated continuously to show trend direction while smoothing out short-term noise.
O
Operating Margin
The percentage of revenue that remains as profit after paying all operating costs but before interest and taxes — a key measure of core business profitability.
Options
Financial contracts giving the buyer the right — but not the obligation — to buy or sell a stock at a specified price before a specific date.
P
P/E Ratio
Price-to-Earnings ratio — a stock's current price divided by its earnings per share, showing how much investors pay for each dollar of profit.
Portfolio
The collection of all investments held by an individual or institution — stocks, bonds, ETFs, cash, and other assets combined into one overall picture.
Price-to-Sales (P/S) Ratio
A valuation ratio comparing a company's market cap to its annual revenue, useful for companies with negative earnings or in early growth stages.
R
Recession
A significant, widespread, prolonged decline in economic activity — commonly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
RSI (Relative Strength Index)
A momentum oscillator measuring the speed and magnitude of recent price changes, scaled from 0 to 100, to identify overbought or oversold conditions.
S
SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)
The U.S. federal agency responsible for regulating securities markets, enforcing securities laws, and requiring companies to disclose financial information.
Short Selling
Borrowing shares and selling them with the expectation the price will fall, allowing you to buy them back cheaper and pocket the difference.
Smart Money
Investments made by institutional investors, hedge funds, and legendary investors who are presumed to have superior information, resources, and analytical capabilities.
Stock Buyback
When a company uses its own cash to repurchase its shares from the open market, reducing shares outstanding and increasing earnings per share.
Stock Split
A corporate action that divides existing shares into multiple new shares, reducing the price per share proportionally while keeping total market cap unchanged.
Support and Resistance
Price levels where a stock historically struggles to fall below (support) or break above (resistance), reflecting concentrated buying or selling pressure.
T
Technical Analysis
Evaluating stocks and markets by studying historical price patterns, trading volume, and statistical indicators rather than underlying business fundamentals.
Terminal Value
In a DCF model, the estimated value of a company's cash flows beyond the explicit forecast period — typically representing the majority of total calculated value.
Total Return
The complete gain or loss on an investment including both price appreciation and dividends (or other income distributions), expressed as a percentage.
Trading Volume
The total number of shares (or contracts) traded for a security during a given period — a key indicator of market interest and the strength behind a price move.
V
Value Investing
An investment strategy focused on buying stocks that trade at a discount to their intrinsic value, based on the belief that markets are occasionally irrational.
Value Trap
A stock that appears cheap based on valuation metrics like P/E or P/B, but where the business is genuinely in permanent decline — making it a losing investment despite the low price.
Volatility
The degree of variation in a security's price over time — high volatility means large, frequent price swings; low volatility means stable, steady price movement.