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A security is a tradable financial asset.The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction.In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any form of financial instrument, even though the underlying legal and regulatory regime may not have such a broad definition.
Financial instruments are monetary contracts between parties. They can be created, traded, modified and settled. They can be cash (currency), evidence of an ownership, interest in an entity or a contractual right to receive or deliver in the form of currency (forex); debt (bonds, loans); equity (); or derivatives (options, futures, forwards).
The underlying security may be a stock index or an individual firm's stock, e.g. single-stock futures. Stock futures are contracts where the buyer is long, i.e., takes on the obligation to buy on the contract maturity date, and the seller is short, i.e., takes on the obligation to sell. Stock index futures are generally delivered by cash ...
Economics, business, accounting, and related fields often distinguish between quantities that are stocks and those that are flows. These differ in their units of measurement. A stock is measured at one specific time, and represents a quantity existing at that point in time (say, December 31, 2004), which may have accumulated in the past.
To identify undervalued securities, a value investor uses analysis of the financial reports of the issuer to evaluate the security. Value investors employ accounting ratios, such as earnings per share and sales growth, to identify securities trading at prices below their worth. Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham are notable examples of value ...
Preferred stock is a specialized form of financing which combines properties of common stock and debt instruments, and may then be considered a hybrid security. Preferreds are senior (i.e. higher ranking) to common stock , but subordinate to bonds in terms of claim (or rights to their share of the assets of the company). [ 29 ]
A margin of safety (or safety margin) is the difference between the intrinsic value of a stock and its market price. Another definition: In break-even analysis, from the discipline of accounting, margin of safety is how much output or sales level can fall before a business reaches its break-even point. Break-even point is a no-profit, no-loss ...
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 115, Accounting for Certain Investments in Debt and Equity Securities, commonly known as "FAS 115", is an accounting standard issued during May 1993 by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), which became effective for entities with fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1993. [8] [9]