Equities
Educational articles about equities.
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Glossary: Trading and Execution Terms
## Introduction This glossary defines 30 trading and execution terms with concise definitions focused on practical application. Bookmark this page fo...
Trading Psychology and Discipline Practices
## Why Psychology Determines Trading Outcomes Active trading performance is determined less by analysis quality and more by **execution discipline un...
When to Use Alternative Trading Systems
## What Alternative Trading Systems Actually Do Alternative Trading Systems (ATS) are SEC-registered trading venues that match buy and sell orders ou...
Leveraging Portfolio Margin Accounts
## What Portfolio Margin Actually Provides Portfolio margin (PM) calculates margin requirements based on the **net risk of your entire portfolio**, n...
Using Options for Synthetic Exposure
## What Synthetic Exposure Means in Practice A synthetic long stock position combines two options contracts—**a long call and a short put at the same...
Maintaining Compliance with Pattern Day Trading Rules
## Why PDT Rules Catch Traders Off Guard The Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule is one of the most frustrating regulations for active retail traders. Exec...
Tax Considerations for High-Frequency Trading
## Why Taxes Can Eliminate Your Trading Edge A trader generating **20% gross returns** with high turnover might net only **10-12%** after taxes—less ...
Performance Attribution for Active Strategies
## Why Raw Returns Don't Tell You What's Working You beat your benchmark by **3%** last year. Congratulations—but do you know why? Was it because you...
Trade Journaling and Post-Mortem Reviews
## Why Most Traders Repeat the Same Mistakes Trading without a journal is **practicing without feedback**. Studies of professional traders show that ...
Handling Gaps and Volatility Events
## Why Gaps and Volatility Events Demand Different Tactics Price gaps—when a stock opens significantly higher or lower than the previous close—accoun...
Managing Trades Through Earnings Season
Earnings announcements are binary events that compress months of expectations into single-day price moves averaging 4-8% for S&P 500 stocks and 10-15%...
Using Stop Orders, OCO, and Trailing Stops
Stop orders remove emotion from exit decisions by executing automatically when price reaches a trigger level. They protect against large losses and ca...
Position Sizing and Risk-Reward Ratios
Position sizing answers the question: "How many shares should I buy?" The answer isn't "as many as I can afford" or "whatever feels right." It's a fun...
Measuring Slippage and Implementation Shortfall
Every trade has a cost beyond commissions. When you decide to buy a stock at $50.00 and your order fills at $50.12, that $0.12 difference is slippage....
Algorithmic Execution Basics: VWAP, TWAP, POV
Algorithmic execution strategies break large orders into smaller pieces and execute them over time to minimize market impact. If you need to buy 50,00...
Order Routing Choices and Smart Order Types
When you submit an order, your broker chooses where to send it for execution. This routing decision affects your fill price, execution speed, and like...
Short Selling Mechanics and Borrow Costs
Short selling is the process of selling borrowed shares with the intention of buying them back at a lower price. The mechanics involve locating shares...
Margin Accounts, Leverage, and Regulation T
A margin account allows you to borrow money from your broker to purchase securities. The Federal Reserve's Regulation T limits how much you can borrow...
Broker Selection Criteria for Active Traders
Broker selection for active traders involves different criteria than for buy-and-hold investors. Commission costs, execution quality, margin interest ...
Designing a Written Trading Plan
A written trading plan is a document that specifies exactly when you will enter trades, how much capital you will risk, and when you will exit. The pl...
Glossary: Technical Indicator Terms
This glossary defines 30 technical indicator and chart analysis terms with concise, one-sentence definitions focused on practical application. Updated...
How Technical Signals Tie into Macro Context
Technical signals do not operate in isolation. A breakout above resistance means something different when the Federal Reserve is cutting rates versus ...
Common Mistakes in Technical Analysis
Technical analysis applied incorrectly produces confident-sounding predictions with poor results. The most common failures come from curve fitting (op...
Risk Management for Chart-Based Trades
Technical traders who survive long-term share one characteristic: **they size positions based on risk, not conviction**. A trader risking 5% of capita...
Backtesting Basics for Retail Traders
Backtesting applies trading rules to historical price data to measure how a strategy would have performed. A retail trader testing "buy when RSI falls...
Scanning Tools for Technical Setups
**Scanning tools filter thousands of stocks down to actionable candidates.** Without a screener, you're manually reviewing charts one at a time—an app...
Combining Indicators Without Double Counting Signals
**More indicators does not mean more confirmation.** If you require RSI above 50, MACD positive, and Stochastic above 50 before buying, you haven't ad...
Seasonality and Cycle Studies
**Seasonality identifies recurring patterns in market returns tied to calendar periods.** The S&P 500 has historically returned **+7.1% from November ...
Point and Figure Charting Overview
**Point and figure (P&F) charts ignore time and focus purely on price movements.** Unlike candlestick or bar charts that plot every trading day, P&F c...
Market Breadth Indicators to Watch
**Market breadth measures how many stocks participate in a market move.** A rally driven by 400 advancing stocks is fundamentally different from one d...
Ichimoku Clouds Basics
The Ichimoku Kinko Hyo (translated as "one glance equilibrium chart") is a technical indicator system developed by Japanese journalist Goichi Hosoda i...
Breakout and Breakdown Confirmation Rules
Breakouts and breakdowns occur when price moves beyond established support or resistance levels. Many of these moves fail, reversing back into the pri...
Chart Patterns: Triangles, Flags, and Pennants
Triangles, flags, and pennants are consolidation patterns that typically resolve in the direction of the prior trend. Recognizing these patterns allow...
Fibonacci Retracements and Extensions
Fibonacci retracements and extensions provide a framework for identifying potential price levels where trends may pause, reverse, or extend. These lev...
Average True Range and Volatility Stops
Stop-losses set at arbitrary dollar amounts or fixed percentages often get triggered by normal price fluctuations. Average True Range (ATR) solves thi...
Volume Analysis and On-Balance Volume
## What Volume Measures Volume represents the total number of shares (or contracts) traded during a specified period. Unlike price, which shows direc...
Momentum Oscillators: RSI, Stochastics, and MACD
## What Momentum Oscillators Measure Momentum oscillators quantify the speed and magnitude of price changes. Unlike price charts that show direction,...
Moving Averages: SMA, EMA, and WMA Use Cases
## What Moving Averages Measure Moving averages smooth price data by calculating average values over a specified lookback period. They reduce noise f...
Support, Resistance, and Trendline Construction
## Core Definitions Support and resistance are price levels where buying or selling pressure has historically concentrated. Trendlines connect multip...
Candlestick, Bar, and Line Charts Compared
## What Each Chart Type Displays Technical analysis relies on price charts to visualize market data. The three most common chart types—line, bar, and...
Glossary: Stock Market Structure Terms
## Introduction This glossary defines 30 stock market structure terms that every investor should understand when analyzing how US equity markets oper...
Reading Short Interest and Days to Cover
## What Short Interest Measures Short interest represents the total number of shares currently sold short and not yet covered. When investors short a...
Float Rotation and Turnover Metrics
## What Float Rotation and Turnover Measure Float rotation measures how quickly a stock's available shares change hands. When trading volume equals t...
How ETFs Impact Underlying Stock Liquidity
## The ETF-Stock Liquidity Connection Exchange-traded funds now hold approximately **$8.5 trillion** in US equity assets as of late 2024. The three l...
The Role of Market Makers and Wholesalers
## What Market Makers and Wholesalers Do Market makers are firms that continuously post bid and ask prices for securities, standing ready to buy from...
Retail vs. Institutional Participation Trends
Retail investor participation in U.S. equity markets has surged dramatically since 2020. According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FIN...
Corporate Investor Relations Playbook
Every public company maintains an investor relations (IR) function responsible for communicating with shareholders, analysts, and potential investors....
Listing Standards: NYSE vs. Nasdaq
The New York Stock Exchange lists approximately 2,400 companies with combined market capitalization exceeding $28 trillion, while Nasdaq lists over 3,...
Insider Lockups, Quiet Periods, and Trading Windows
After an IPO, corporate insiders typically cannot sell shares for 180 days under lock-up agreements negotiated with underwriters. When these lock-ups ...
Understanding Prospectuses and S-1 Filings
When a company prepares to sell stock to the public for the first time, **the SEC requires disclosure of every material fact that might influence an i...
Regulation NMS and Order Routing Basics
When you place a stock order through your broker, that order can travel to many different destinations before executing. Regulation NMS (National Mark...
Trading Sessions, Halts, and Circuit Breakers Explained
U.S. stock exchanges operate on defined schedules with specific rules governing when trading can occur and when it must pause. Understanding trading s...
Dividends, Buybacks, and Total Shareholder Return
Companies with excess cash have two primary methods to return capital to shareholders: dividends and share buybacks. Understanding how these mechanism...
What Drives Stock Prices Over Days, Months, and Years
Stock prices change constantly during market hours, yet the factors driving those movements differ substantially depending on the time horizon. Daily ...
How Index Providers Build and Rebalance Benchmarks
Stock market indexes serve as the foundation for trillions of dollars in passive investment products. Understanding how index providers construct and ...
Free Float, Shares Outstanding, and Market Cap Math
Market capitalization calculations seem straightforward but contain nuances that significantly affect how investors evaluate company size and liquidit...
Share Classes, Voting Power, and Control Provisions
Dual-class and multi-class share structures create a separation between economic ownership and voting control. Among S&P 500 companies, **7% use dual-...
Common vs. Preferred Stock Structures and Rights
Common stock and preferred stock represent fundamentally different ownership claims on a company. Common shareholders own **residual equity** (what re...
IPO vs. Direct Listing vs. SPAC: Key Differences
Companies can access US public markets through three distinct mechanisms: **traditional IPOs**, **direct listings**, and **SPAC mergers**. Each path c...
How Public Companies Raise Equity Capital in US Markets
Public companies raise equity capital through two primary mechanisms: **initial public offerings (IPOs)** and **follow-on offerings**. In 2023, US com...
Glossary: Sector and Style Investing Terms
This glossary covers key terms for sector allocation, style investing, and global equity strategies. Terms are organized alphabetically with cross-ref...
Building Custom Baskets with Direct Indexing
Direct indexing replaces a single ETF with hundreds of individual stock positions that replicate the index. This sounds like unnecessary complexity—un...
Tracking Sector Breadth and Momentum
Market rallies powered by a handful of stocks are fragile. In the first half of 2023, the S&P 500 gained **16%**, but the equal-weight S&P 500 (RSP) g...
Geopolitical Risk Assessment for Industry Groups
Geopolitical risk shows up in portfolios as **sudden earnings revisions**, **supply chain disruptions**, and **multiple compression for exposed sector...
Managing Currency Risk When Buying ADRs
American Depositary Receipts let you buy foreign stocks through US exchanges with dollar-denominated prices and normal settlement. But the convenience...
Factor and Smart Beta Strategies: Beyond Market Cap Weighting
Factor investing attempts to capture systematic return premiums—**characteristics that have historically predicted outperformance** across stocks, tim...
Thematic Investing: ESG, Clean Energy, and Innovation Funds
Thematic investing—betting on broad trends like clean energy, ESG, or technological disruption—**appeals to conviction but often disappoints in practi...
U.S. vs International Allocation: How Much Should You Diversify Abroad?
American investors typically hold **70-80% of their equity allocation in U.S. stocks**—despite the U.S. representing only **42% of global equity marke...
Small-Cap vs Large-Cap: Why Sector Composition Drives Performance Differences
When investors compare small-cap and large-cap performance, they often miss that **they're comparing different economies**. The Russell 2000 (small ca...
Real Estate Investment Trusts: What Equity Investors Need to Know
REITs trade like stocks but behave like bonds with equity upside—**you collect yield** (averaging 4-5% historically), **you get property appreciation*...
Utility Sector Yield Comparisons
Utility stocks attract investors for one reason: **yield**. The sector consistently offers **3-5% dividend yields** compared to the S&P 500's **1.5%**...
Industrial Sector and Capital Spending Trends
Industrial companies sell the capital goods that other businesses need to operate and grow. This creates a unique dynamic: **industrial revenue depend...
Consumer Discretionary vs. Staples Playbooks
Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples represent opposite ends of the cyclical spectrum - yet both sectors derive revenue from the same household...
Energy Sector Sensitivity to Commodity Prices
Energy stocks don't move randomly - they move with commodities. The S&P 500 Energy sector shows a **0.65-0.75 correlation** with WTI crude oil prices ...
Financial Sector Balance Sheet Metrics
Financial stocks require a completely different analytical toolkit than industrial or technology companies. Standard metrics like P/E ratios and opera...
Healthcare Sector Regulation Watchpoints
Healthcare is the **most regulated sector** in US equities. FDA decisions can move individual biotech stocks 50-80% in a single day. Drug pricing legi...
Technology Sector Drivers and Metrics
The Technology sector represents **~29% of the S&P 500** but contains wildly different business models: recurring SaaS revenue, cyclical semiconductor...
Building a Sector ETF Core Allocation
A sector ETF allocation gives you **control over portfolio factor exposures**, **precise tax-loss harvesting opportunities**, and **flexibility to til...
Sector Rotation Strategies Through the US Business Cycle
Sector rotation strategies attempt to **overweight sectors before they outperform** and **underweight before they lag**, using business cycle position...
Using GICS and Sector Classification Systems
Sector classification systems determine **how you benchmark performance**, **which ETFs you buy**, and **how you measure diversification**. Use the wr...
Glossary: Fundamental Analysis Terms
This glossary defines the key terms you'll encounter throughout the Fundamental Analysis series. Bookmark it for quick reference when working through ...
Checklist for Reviewing a 10-K or 10-Q
The practical point: **a 10-K is 200-400 pages, and the sections that matter most take about 60 minutes to read**. Most investors read filings ineffic...
Documenting a Thesis and Update Triggers
**Difficulty:** Intermediate **Published:** 2025-12-30 You buy a stock because you believe revenue will grow 15% annually for five years. Two years l...
Red Flags in Revenue Recognition and Accruals
Revenue recognition manipulation is how companies inflate earnings before the cash shows up (or doesn't). The evidence is clear: firms with high accru...
Using Alternative Data and Channel Checks Responsibly
The practical point: **alternative data can give you a 2-6 week edge on quarterly results**, but only if you triangulate it with fundamentals, respect...
Spotting Quality of Earnings Issues and Adjustments
The practical point: **reported earnings are a negotiated number**, and the negotiation happens between GAAP constraints and management incentives. Yo...
Reading MD&A for Forward Guidance Clues
The Management Discussion and Analysis section of 10-K and 10-Q filings is where management **commits to language that lawyers have reviewed**—and tha...
Unit Economics and KPI Dashboards
The practical point: **you want to know whether each customer or unit sold generates enough profit to cover acquisition costs and fund growth**, and y...
Identifying Economic Moats and Competitive Advantage
The practical point: **a durable moat shows up as ROIC exceeding WACC for 10+ consecutive years**, and you can categorize it into **5 structural sourc...
Assessing Capital Allocation Track Records
**The practical point:** Capital allocation decisions drive **70-80%** of long-term shareholder value, yet most investors focus on earnings alone. Com...
Evaluating Management Incentives and Ownership
**The practical point:** Management teams with **5%+ insider ownership** outperform those with minimal stakes by **2-3% annually** over multi-year per...
Sum-of-the-Parts Modeling for Diversified Firms
**Intermediate** | Published: 2025-12-30 Sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) valuation breaks a diversified company into its individual business segments, values...
Comparable Company Analysis Step by Step
**Intermediate** | Published: 2025-12-30 ## Why Comp Analysis Matters Comparable company analysis (comps) values a target company by examining how t...
Building a Simple Earnings Forecast Model
An earnings forecast model translates observable business drivers into a projected income statement. The practical point: **you are not predicting the...
Working Capital Cycles and Liquidity Tests
Working capital management separates companies that **fund growth from operations** from those that **borrow to survive**. The cash conversion cycle (...
Balance Sheet Strength and Capital Structure Review
Capital structure decisions determine whether a company survives a downturn or becomes a distressed-debt case study. Companies with **debt-to-equity a...
ROE, ROIC, and Economic Profit Explained
Return metrics answer a single question: **how efficiently does this business convert capital into profits?** The difference between ROE, ROIC, and ec...
Cash Flow Statement Deep Dive for Equity Investors
The cash flow statement tells you what actually happened to the money—not what accounting rules say happened. Net income can be manipulated through ac...
Gross, Operating, and Net Margin Analysis
Profit margins tell you how efficiently a business converts revenue into profit at each stage of its operations. The progression from gross to operati...
Revenue Quality and Recognizing Sustainable Growth
**The practical point:** A company can report **18% revenue growth** while its core business shrinks. The distinction between organic and acquired gro...
Glossary: Valuation Methodologies
This glossary defines 28 valuation terms with concise definitions focused on practical application. Terms are organized by category for reference duri...
Calibrating Target Prices with Risk/Reward
A target price is not a decision. You have calculated that a stock is worth $85, and it trades at $70. Is that a buy? It depends on your downside if y...
Common Pitfalls in DIY Valuation Models
Building your own valuation model is how you develop conviction. But DIY models are also where mistakes compound silently. A single formula error or a...
Documenting Valuation Assumptions Clearly
A valuation model is a story told in numbers. Without clear documentation of your assumptions, that story becomes fiction you cannot defend. CFA Insti...
Checking Results Against Market-Implied Expectations
You built a DCF. You have a price target. Now what? Before acting on that number, you need to understand what the market is already pricing in. Revers...
Using Comparable Transactions Data
**Intermediate** | Published: 2024-12-30 Comparable transactions analysis values a company by examining what acquirers actually paid for similar busi...
Adjusting for Share-Based Compensation and Dilution
Share-based compensation (SBC) is a **real economic cost** that many investors ignore in DCF models, leading to overvaluation of **15-30%** for tech c...
Selecting Discount Rates with CAPM and WACC
## Why It Matters Your DCF model is only as good as your discount rate. Use **8%** instead of **10%**, and a stock worth $50 suddenly looks like $70....
Incorporating Options and Warrants into Valuation
**Options and warrants represent claims on equity value that reduce what common shareholders actually own.** Tech companies with heavy stock-based com...
Valuing Negative Earnings or Early-Stage Companies
## Why Traditional P/E Fails (And What to Use Instead) When earnings are negative, the P/E ratio produces nonsense. A company losing $2 per share at ...
Monte Carlo Simulation for Equity Valuation
## Why Point Estimates Lie (The Distribution Problem) Traditional DCF models produce a single number. The stock is worth $50. But that precision mask...
Scenario and Sensitivity Analysis Techniques
## Why Single-Point Estimates Are Dangerous (The Range Problem) A DCF model produces a precise number. Your model says the stock is worth $47.32. But...
Economic Value Added and Value Drivers
## Why Accounting Profits Miss the Point (The EVA Insight) A company can report $100 million in net income and still destroy shareholder value. How? ...
Sum-of-the-Parts Valuation for Conglomerates
## Why Conglomerates Need a Different Approach (The Valuation Problem) A single P/E ratio cannot capture what a company is worth when it operates a s...
Revenue Multiples for High-Growth Firms
## Why Revenue Multiples Exist (When Earnings Do Not) When a company has no earnings, P/E ratios become useless. You cannot divide by zero or a negat...
EV/EBITDA and EV/EBIT: When to Use Each
## Why Enterprise Value Multiples Matter (The Core Logic) P/E looks at equity only. But companies have different capital structures—some carry heavy ...
P/E Multiple Selection: Trailing, Forward, and CAPE
## Why P/E Matters (The Core Question) How much are you willing to pay for each dollar of earnings? That is what P/E answers. **P/E = Current Stock ...
Residual Income and Excess Return Models
## The Core Insight (Why It Matters) Accounting profit ignores something fundamental: **capital has a cost.** A company that earns $10 million but re...
Dividend Discount Models for Mature Companies
## The Logic Behind DDM (Why It Matters) When you buy a stock and hold it forever, what do you actually receive? Dividends. That is the entire premis...
Discounted Cash Flow Valuation: A Practitioner's Guide
## The Core Logic (Why It Matters) Every investment you make involves trading dollars today for dollars tomorrow. DCF forces you to make that trade e...
Evaluating Payout Ratios and Coverage: The Numbers That Predict Dividend Cuts
Payout ratio analysis—calculating what percentage of earnings a company pays as dividends—shows up in portfolio decisions as **avoiding dividend cuts ...
Tracking Special Dividends and One-Time Distributions: When Companies Return Windfall Cash
In December 2023, Costco announced a **$15.00 per share special dividend**—a one-time payout totaling **$6.7 billion**. Shareholders who owned 100 sha...
Yield on Cost vs. Current Yield: The Debate
Dividend investors argue endlessly about which yield metric matters more. Some celebrate their **57% yield on cost** from stocks bought decades ago. O...
Free Cash Flow Tests for Dividend Safety: The Metric That Catches Problems First
Free cash flow analysis—testing whether dividends are funded by actual cash rather than accounting profits—shows up in portfolios as **early warning o...
BDC Dividends and Pass-Through Status: High Yields, High Stakes
Business Development Companies routinely yield **8-14%**—four to seven times the S&P 500's dividend yield. That's not a typo. These pass-through entit...
Using ETFs and CEFs for Dividend Exposure
Building a dividend portfolio stock-by-stock exposes you to concentration risk that fund structures can solve. One dividend cut (Walgreens with its **...
Monthly vs. Quarterly Dividend Programs: Does Payment Frequency Matter?
New income investors obsess over monthly dividend stocks. The appeal is obvious: **cash hitting your account 12 times a year feels like a paycheck**. ...
Impact of Buybacks on Income Investors
Share buybacks have quietly become the dominant form of shareholder return, yet most income investors ignore them entirely. S&P 500 companies are on t...
Cash vs. Stock Dividends: Timeline and Taxation
Most investors get dividend taxation wrong in predictable ways: they **chase ex-dividend dates** hoping for "free money," **miss the 61-day holding re...
Handling Foreign Dividend Withholding as a US Investor
You buy shares of a quality European dividend payer, expecting a 4% yield. Then the dividend arrives and **only 3.4% shows up**—the rest vanished to f...
Tracking Ex-Dividend Dates and Capture Strategies
Dividend capture—buying before the ex-date, selling after—looks like easy money until you run the math. The stock price drops by approximately the div...
High-Yield Stocks: Separating Opportunity from Trap
High-yield stocks—those offering yields significantly above the S&P 500's **1.3-1.5%**—show up in portfolios as either **sustainable income exceeding ...
Glossary of Dividend Investing Terms
Dividend investing has its own vocabulary. This glossary defines the 28 terms you'll encounter most frequently, organized alphabetically for quick ref...
Qualified vs. Ordinary Dividend Tax Rules: The Difference That Costs You 17%
Two investors receive identical $10,000 dividend payments. One pays $1,500 in taxes. The other pays $3,200. The difference isn't tax fraud—it's unders...
Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs): Automate Your Compounding
Dividend reinvestment plans—automatic programs that use dividend payments to buy more shares—show up in portfolios as **accelerated share accumulation...
Option Adjustments After Corporate Actions
Option traders who ignore corporate actions learn expensive lessons. That **$50 call you bought** might become a contract delivering **5 shares at an ...
Proxy Voting, Record Dates, and AGM Season: Your Ownership Rights as an Active Shareholder
Every year, approximately **4,500 U.S. public companies** hold annual general meetings (AGMs) where shareholders vote on board members, executive comp...
Impact of Index Additions or Deletions
The textbook "index inclusion effect"—where stocks jump **8.8% on average from announcement to effective date**—has largely disappeared. S&P Global's ...
Monitoring Insider Transactions and Form 4s
Insider buying—when executives and directors spend their own money on company stock—shows up in portfolios as **a signal that's either incredibly valu...
How Earnings Announcements Change Liquidity
Earnings announcements don't just move stock prices—they **transform the market microstructure** around those stocks. Implied volatility spikes before...
Event Calendars and Trading Playbooks
Corporate events don't happen randomly—**they follow predictable calendars with published deadlines**. Dividend dates are announced weeks in advance. ...
Tax Considerations for Corporate Actions
Corporate actions create tax complexity that trips up even experienced investors. Stock splits are non-taxable (but change your per-share basis). Spin...
How to Interpret 13D and 13G Activist Filings: When Major Investors Signal Their Moves
When Carl Icahn filed a 13D on Apple in August 2013, he disclosed a position exceeding **$1 billion** and demanded the company increase its stock buyb...
Using Merger Arbitrage Spreads
Merger arbitrage looks like free money on paper: buy the target at current price, collect the deal price at close, pocket the spread. But the returns ...
Corporate Restructurings and Bankruptcy Outcomes: What Shareholders Actually Recover
Here's the number that should change how you think about distressed stocks: **common shareholders recovered an average of just 0.97% of their investme...
Share Buybacks: Accelerated Programs and Tender Offers
Share buyback announcements generate headlines, but most investors misunderstand what they signal. The pattern: companies announce **massive repurchas...
Rights Issues and Follow-On Offerings
When companies raise capital by issuing new shares, existing shareholders face a binary outcome: **participate and maintain your ownership percentage*...
Glossary: Corporate Action Terminology
This glossary covers the key terms you'll encounter when tracking corporate actions. Definitions are practical, focused on what matters for investment...
Mergers, Acquisitions, and the Shareholder Vote Process
Merger announcements trigger predictable investor mistakes: **target shareholders sell immediately** (capturing only part of the premium), **acquirer ...
Stock Splits, Reverse Splits, and Share Consolidations
Stock splits trigger predictable investor mistakes: **treating split announcements as bullish news** (splits don't change company value), **forgetting...
Dividend Cuts, Suspensions, and Warning Signs
## Why It Matters Dividend Cuts, Suspensions, and Warning Signs provides a systematic framework for interpreting market information and identifying o...
Sector-Specific Dividend Practices (Utilities, Financials, Tech)
## Why It Matters Sector-Specific Dividend Practices (Utilities, Financials, Tech) provides a systematic framework for allocating capital across mark...
Covered Call Strategies for Income Enhancement
## Why It Matters Covered Call Strategies for Income Enhancement provides a systematic framework for interpreting market information and identifying ...
Impact of Buybacks on Dividend Policy
## Why It Matters Impact of Buybacks on Dividend Policy provides a systematic framework for interpreting market information and identifying opportuni...
Tax Treatment of Qualified vs. Ordinary Dividends
## Why It Matters Tax Treatment of Qualified vs. Ordinary Dividends provides a systematic framework for interpreting market information and identifyi...
Ex-Dividend Date, Record Date, Payment Date
## Why It Matters Ex-Dividend Date, Record Date, Payment Date provides a systematic framework for interpreting market information and identifying opp...