definition of stock terms

P/E Ratio: A valuation ratio of a company's current share price compared to its per-share earnings. its equals the current market value per share divided by the earnings per share
Dividend: A distribution of a portion of a company's earnings, decided by the board of directors, to a class of its shareholders. The dividend is most often quoted in terms of the dollar amount each share receives (dividends per share).
Price to Book: A ratio used to compare a stock's market value to its book value. It is calculated by dividing the current closing price of the stock by the latest quarter's book value per share.
Price to Sale: A ratio for valuing a stock relative to its own past performance, other companies or the market itself. Price to sales is calculated by dividing a stock's current price by its revenue per share for the trailing 12 months
Beta: A measure of the volatility, or systematic risk, of a security or a portfolio in comparison to the market as a whole. an Beta of 1 indicates the stock is moving along with the market, less than 1 indicates the stock is moving slower than the market, an greater than 1 indicates the stock is moving faster than the market.
Market Cap: measurement of corporate or economic size equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a public company.
Earnings/Share: The portion of a company's profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. EPS serves as an indicator of a company's profitability. caculated by dividing the company's net income by its outstanding shares.
Return on Equity: A measure of a corporation's profitability that reveals how much profit a company generates with the money shareholders have invested. calculated by dividing the net income by the shareholder's equity.
Ask: The price a seller is willing to accept for a security, also known as the offer price. Along with the price, the ask quote will generally also stipulate the amount of the security willing to be sold at that price.
Bid: An offer made by an investor, a trader or a dealer to buy a security. The bid will stipulate both the price at which the buyer is willing to purchase the security and the quantity to be purchased.
Sales Growth: The increase in sales over a specific period of time, often but not necessarily annually
Income Growth: The increase in income over a specific period of time, often but not necessarily annually
Volume: The number of shares or contracts traded in a security or an entire market during a given period of time. It is simply the amount of shares that trade hands from sellers to buyers as a measure of activity.