Index and Financial Term Definitions
Indices
The Barclays Capital US Corporate High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Index is an unmanaged index comprised of fixed rate, non-investment grade debt securities that are dollar denominated and non-convertible. The index limits the maximum exposure to any one issuer to 2%.
The JPMorgan Global High Yield Index is designed to mirror the investable universe of the U.S. dollar global high yield corporate debt market, including domestic and international issues.
The Merrill Lynch U.S. Domestic Master Index is a capitalization weighted aggregation of outstanding U.S. treasury, agency and supranational, mortgage pass-through, and investment grade corporate bonds meeting specified criteria.
The S&P 500 Index is a capitalization weighted index of 500 large capitalization stocks which is designed to measure broad domestic securities markets.
The Russell 2000 Index consists of the smallest 2,000 securities in the Russell 3000 Index, representing approximately 10% of the Russell 3000 total market capitalization.
The S&P Smallcap 600 Index consists of 600 domestic stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, bid-asked spread, ownership, share turnover and number of no-trade days and industry group representation.
The Russell Midcap Index measures the performance of the 800 smallest companies in the Russell 1000 Index, which represent approximately 26% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 1000 Index. The index has a total market range of approximately $1.3 billion to $10.8 billion.
Lipper Analytical Services, Inc. is an independent mutual fund ranking agency. The Lipper Indices track the total return of the largest open-end equity and fixed income mutual funds within specific Lipper categories. The categories are based on Lipper's fund classification system.
The S&P 400 Mid Cap Index is a capitalization weighted index that measure the performance of the mid-range sector of the U.S. stock market. One cannot invest directly in an index.
The Russell Microcap Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell Microcap companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values.
The Russell Microcap Index consists of the smallest 1,000 companies in the small-cap Russell 2000 Index plus the next 1,000 securities.
The Russell Midcap Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell Midcap companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values.
The Russell 1000 Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 1000 Index companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values.
The NASDAQ Composite Index is a broad-based capitalization-weighted index of stocks in all three NASDAQ tiers: Global Select, Global Market and Capital Market.
The Russell 2000 Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 2000 Index companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values.
The Russell Midcap Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell Midcap companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values.
The MSCI China Free Index is an unmanaged market capitalization-weighted index of Chinese companies available to non-domestic investors.
The Russell 3000 Growth Index is an unmanaged index comprised of those Russell 3000 companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The stocks in this index are also members of either the Russell 1000 Growth or the Russell 2000 Growth indices.
The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Europe, Australasia, Far East Index (EAFE) is an unmanaged index of over 900 companies, and is a generally accepted benchmark for major overseas markets.
The MSCI All Country World-ex U.S. Index is an index of issuers located in countries throughout the world, representing developed and emerging markets, excluding securities of U.S. issuers.
The S&P/HKEx GEM Index measures the performance of Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), an alternative stock market operated by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited.
The S&P 500 Index is a capitalization weighted index of 500 large capitalization stocks which is designed to measure broad domestic securities markets.
The NYSE Arca Tech 100 Index is a price-weighted index composed of common stocks and ADRs of technology-related companies listed on US stock exchanges. The NYSE Arca Tech 100 is heavily weighted in information technology and healthcare, with minor weightings in consumer discretionary and telecommunication services, and trivial weightings in energy, financials and industrials.
The Merrill Lynch High Yield Master Index is an unmanaged index comprised of over 1,200 high yield bonds representative of high yield bond markets as a whole. The performance figure shown for comparison purposes is a weighted average made up of 60% of the S&P 500 Index and 40% of the Merrill Lynch High Yield Master Index. You cannot invest directly in an index.
Definitions
Alpha: A risk-adjusted measure of the so-called active return on an investment. It is the return in excess of the compensation for the risk.
Average Coupon: The interest rate that a bond issuer is obligated to pay the bond holder until the bond matures.
Average Maturity: The average of all maturity dates for securities in a money market or bond fund. The longer the average maturity, the more volatile a fund's share price will be, moving up or down as interest rates change -- which they do every day.
Average Yield To Maturity (YTM): A rate of return measuring the total performance of a bond (coupon payments as well as capital gain or loss) from the time of purchase until maturity.
Basis Point (BPS): One hundredth of a percentage point ( 0.01%).
Earnings Per Share: The portion of a company's profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. Earnings Per Share serves as an indicator of a company's profitability.
EV/EBITDA or Enterprise Value/EBITDA or Enterprise Multiple: The enterprise multiple looks at a firm as a potential acquirer would, because it takes debt into account - an item which other multiples like the P/E ratio do not include. EBITDA = Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.
Expense Ratio %: The percentage of fund assets paid for operating expenses and management fees, including 12b-1 fees, administrative fees, and all other asset-based costs incurred by the fund, except brokerage costs. Fund expenses are reflected in the fund's NAV. Sales charges are not included in the expense ratio.
Free Cash Flow: A measure of the cash produced by the firm in a given period on behalf of equity holders. The true measure of the value of a firm's equity is considered to be the present value of all free cash flows.
Median Market Cap (Market Capitalization): A company's total stock market value, calculated by multiplying the price of a single share by the total number of shares outstanding.
Net Asset Value: the market value of mutual fund shares, based on the value of the assets of the fund minus its liabilities, divided by the number of shares outstanding.
Par Value: Annual interest rate paid by a bond.
Price/Earnings Ratio: The weighted average of the price/earnings (P/E) ratio of the equity securities referenced. The P/E ratio is calculated by dividing the current price of the stock by the estimate of earnings expected over the next four quarters.
Price/Sales Ratio: Represents the amount an investor is willing to pay for a dollar generated from a particular company's operations.
Return on Capital is a profitability ratio measured using net income divided by invested capital.
Total Assets: This figure is recorded in millions of dollars and represents the fund's total asset base.
Turnover Ratio: a measure of the fund's trading activity computed by taking the lesser of purchases or sales (excluding all securities with maturities of less than one year) and dividing by average monthly net assets. A turnover ratio of 100% or more does not necessarily suggest that all securities in the portfolio have been traded. In practical terms, the resulting percentage loosely represents the percentage of the portfolio's holdings that have changed over the past year. Benefits: A low turnover figure (20% to 30%) would indicate a buy-and-hold strategy.