Every figure the terminal puts on screen, explained in a sentence or two, without the jargon.
How to read this page
Every figure here is one the terminal puts on screen. The explanation says what the number is and what it is usually read for. None of it is a recommendation, and a figure on its own has never been a reason to buy or sell anything.
Size and value
Figure
What it is
Market cap
The price of one share times the number of shares. What the market currently puts on the whole company.
Enterprise value
Market cap plus debt, minus cash. Closer to what it would cost to take over the business than the share price alone.
EV/Sales
Enterprise value divided by one year of revenue. Useful when a company makes little or no profit yet, because revenue still exists.
P/E
The share price divided by the earnings per share. How many years of the current profit you are paying for.
Multiple
Any of those ratios. A high multiple means the market expects growth. It does not prove a share is expensive, and a low one does not prove it is cheap.
Premium
How far the multiple of one company sits above or below the average of its peers.
What the company earns
Figure
What it is
Revenue
Everything the company billed in the period, before any cost.
Gross margin
What is left of revenue after the direct cost of the product, as a percentage. It says how much room a company has before it pays for anything else.
Operating income
What is left after the running costs of the business, before interest and tax.
Net income
What is left at the very end, after everything.
Profit margin
Net income as a percentage of revenue. Of every unit of currency billed, the part the company keeps.
EPS
Earnings per share. Net income divided by the number of shares, so the figure stays comparable when the share count changes.
Cash flow
The money that actually moved, which is not the same as profit. A company can be profitable on paper and short of cash.
What reaches the shareholder
Figure
What it is
Dividend yield
The dividend of a year divided by the current share price. It moves when the dividend changes and also when the price does.
Share count
How many shares exist. A rising count divides the same profit among more owners.
Dilution
The effect of new shares on the stake an existing owner holds.
Short interest
The part of a company that is sold short, which is a bet on a falling price.
What others expect
Figure
What it is
Estimate
What analysts expect a company to report. It is an expectation, not a result, and the terminal marks it as one.
Consensus
The average of those estimates.
Price target
The price analysts expect a share to reach. It is an opinion with a number attached.
Beat and miss
Whether a reported figure came out above or below the expectation.
Reported
A figure the company published itself. In every chart that mixes the two, reported and estimated are drawn apart.
Movement
Figure
What it is
Beta
How strongly a share has moved compared with the wider market. Above one means it has swung more, below one less.
Year to date
The change since the first trading day of this year.
Range return
The change over the range the chart is showing, which is why it changes when you switch from one month to five years.
Candle
One bar per period, showing where the price opened, where it closed and how high and low it went. On the five year range, one candle covers a week.
Sector
The industry a company is counted in. It decides which peers it is compared against.
Volume
How many shares changed hands in the period. A large move on little volume rests on few trades.