Growing Wealth Archives | Page 46 of 224

Nov

2023

Introduction to Fixed Income Securities

By Matthew Zeitlin | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing | Comments Off

Fixed income securities are a vital pool of investments that are an important part of investors’ strategies, whether they’re institution or individual investors. And while the public is more likely to hear about the ups and downs of the stock market on the news, the fixed income security market is worth trillions, and of vital importance to the overall financial system.

Understanding fixed income securities, and how they fit into an investing strategy, can be critical for investors of all stripes.

Key Points

• Fixed income securities are an important part of investors’ strategies and overall are worth trillions of dollars in the financial system.

• Fixed income securities, like bonds, offer preset payments that do not change and have a set maturity date.

• Advantages of fixed income securities might include lower risks, guaranteed returns, and potential tax benefits, while downsides include lower potential returns and interest rate risks.

• Fixed income securities differ from other securities in terms of their predictable income stream and potential for price appreciation.

• Other similar investments include preferred stocks, money market funds, and certificates of deposit (CDs).

What are Fixed Income Securities?

To understand fixed income securities and investing in fixed income securities, it’s important to understand what “fixed income” means, and how that designation sets these financial securities apart from other investments that can be bought and sold.

“Fixed income” refers to the structure of the security itself: fixed income securities like bonds return a preset payment that legally can not change, known as the interest, and also the principal, which is returned at a set time in the future, known as “maturity.”

And like other types of securities, they have their upsides and downsides, and potentially, a place in an investor’s portfolio. With that in mind, too, it can be a good idea for investors to know how to buy bonds.

💡 Quick Tip: Look for an online brokerage with low trading commissions as well as no account minimum. Higher fees can cut into investment returns over time.

Pros and Cons of Fixed Income Securities

Here’s a quick rundown of the advantages and disadvantages of fixed income securities for investors.

Pros of Fixed Income Securities

Perhaps the biggest advantage of fixed income securities is that they are relatively low-risk, and experience less price volatility compared to equities. They can also offer more or less guaranteed returns through regular interest payments (stocks, by comparison, offer no such guarantees other than perhaps dividends), and some of them may offer tax benefits or advantages, too.

Cons of Fixed Income Securities

Fixed income securities can have their downsides, too. For most investors, there are lower potential returns to be derived from fixed income securities (lower risk and lower returns). Given that they tend to be less volatile, too, there can be fewer opportunities to sell them for a sizable return. They can also be subject to things like interest rate risks, which may not apply to other types of securities.

How Fixed Income Securities Differ from Other Securities

The payments (dividends, potentially) from a fixed-income security, like a bond, are likely known in advance. Investors know what they’re getting, in other words, and can more or less depend on a fixed income stream. The trade-off, though, is that many of those same securities do not typically have the same potential for price appreciation as stocks, as discussed.

It’s worth noting, too, that some bonds are “callable” (versus non-callable). Callable bonds can be riskier for some investors as the issuer can “call” it, requiring an investor to perhaps reinvest their money at a different rate. So, in that sense, callable bonds may not be quite as “fixed” as they seem.

Utilizing Bonds as a Fixed Income Security

Bonds are the heavy hitters of the fixed income world. Bonds are, in effect, investments in the debt of a government or a corporation, or sometimes consumer debts like mortgages or auto loans.

Think of bonds vs. stocks like this: Because of their predictable yield, bonds are generally more low-risk than stocks, which have a value that can fluctuate minute to minute.

There are a few different types of bonds, each of which have their own unique attributes. It’s also worth noting that some bonds can be “callable” — meaning, the issuer can choose to repay investors the face value of the bond before the maturity date arrives. In those cases, interest is not always guaranteed.

Corporate bonds

There are trillions of dollars worth of corporate bonds outstanding that run the gamut from very safe, low-yield bonds issued by huge companies to the riskier, higher-yield bonds, issued by companies whose prospects for future earnings are more uncertain.

High-yield bonds used to be called “junk bonds.” These are bonds issued to fund companies that often don’t have long track records of steady profits or have fallen on tough times recently and thus have to pay more for the privilege of borrowing money.

While these bonds are considerably more risky than bonds in the so-called “blue chip” market, they also provide more opportunities for profits, both because their value tends to sway and that they have higher coupon payments.

Typically the easiest way for an individual or retail investor to invest in corporate bonds is to use an investment product like an exchange-traded fund, what’s known as a “fixed income” or bond ETF, specifically for bonds.

Know, too, that there are a multitude of investment funds on the market, many of which may include or use bond investments.

Government bonds

While the corporate bond market is almost unfathomably big, it’s actually a smaller portion of the world of bonds. Government bonds are issued by governments or public agencies that issue debt to fund their activities, and pay it off with either tax payments or a stream of fees that governments have special access to.

Whenever you hear about the “national debt” of a country, you’re hearing about a set of outstanding bonds that a country uses to cover the gap between taxes and spending. This concerns the federal government in the U.S. There’s also debt issued by states and local governments, some of which offers tax advantages for investors, and debt issued by government-affiliated agencies, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two housing finance corporations.

Debt issued by the federal government tends to have the lowest possible yield of any debt for its duration (meaning the time during which an investor gets the coupon payments), because it’s assumed by the market to be risk-free. (Think government savings bonds.) This is why corporations or institutional investors with a large amount of cash will sometimes buy government debt in order to earn something back but not risk their overall investment, compared to keeping it in cash.

💡 Quick Tip: Investment fees are assessed in different ways, including trading costs, account management fees, and possibly broker commissions. When you set up an investment account, be sure to get the exact breakdown of your “all-in costs” so you know what you’re paying.

Similar Investments to Fixed Income Securities

While bonds do most of the heavy lifting in the fixed income securities world, they’re not the only types of investments that behave in roughly the same way, or which can be used by investors to provide the same type of service in a portfolio. Here are some examples.

Dividend-paying or Preferred stocks

Preferred stocks may have fixed payouts like a bond and are given a “preference” over common stock, meaning that before dividends are paid to common stockholders, they need to be paid to preferred stockholders. Preferred stockholders are also prioritized when a company liquidates or goes out of business — the “senior debt,” aka bondholders, get paid out first, then the preferred stockholders, and finally the common stockholders get paid last.

Money market funds

Money market mutual funds are invested in short-term instruments, and investors can use them as a sort of buoy to try and maintain portfolio stability. These accounts typically invest in short-term debt investments that provide low yield but are low-risk as well. One way to think of a money market mutual fund is as a fixed income investment product that you can always sell out of and into at a stable price.

They can be used in a similar way to checking accounts but do not have the type of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance that bank products will have.

Certificates of Deposit (CDs)

One of the most well-known types of fixed income security, Certificates of deposit (CDs) may not seem like a “security” at all and are typically purchased through a bank, not a broker.

Unlike a bank account, however, CDs cannot be accessed for a set amount of time, which makes them more similar to traditional fixed income investments. Likewise, with a CD an investor gets a contractually obligated stream of payments that is predetermined when they purchase the security. It may be worth reading up the differences in bonds vs. CDs.

One unusual aspect of CDs is that they’re insured by the FDIC for up to $250,000, which can be attractive to some investors. They’re generally low-risk investments, too — but that lower risk tends to come with correspondingly low interest rates, making CDs a savings product more than an investment one.

Investing with SoFi

Fixed income securities like bonds, preferred stocks, money market accounts, and CDs offer steady payments and little to no income fluctuation. But with that low level of risk comes a generally low level of payoff. For investors who like knowing exactly what they’re getting, fixed income securities can be an asset to a portfolio.

The potential downside of investing in fixed income securities is lower potential returns, which may turn many investors off of them. However, depending on your investment strategy, they may play a huge role in your portfolio, too.

Ready to invest in your goals? It’s easy to get started when you open an investment account with SoFi Invest. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, alternative funds, and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here).

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

FAQ

Are fixed income securities debt or equity?

Fixed income securities are typically debt securities, which includes assets like bonds. Though they can sometimes be equities, like preferred stocks.

What are the risks of investing in fixed income securities?

The primary risks of investing in fixed income securities are increased chances for lower returns compared to other asset types, and risks associated with interest rate changes.

What is the difference between a bond and fixed income securities?

A bond is a type of fixed income security, so there isn’t really a difference – one is an umbrella term over the other.

SoFi Invest®
INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE
SoFi Invest encompasses two distinct companies, with various products and services offered to investors as described below: Individual customer accounts may be subject to the terms applicable to one or more of these platforms.
1) Automated Investing and advisory services are provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (“SoFi Wealth“). Brokerage services are provided to SoFi Wealth LLC by SoFi Securities LLC.
2) Active Investing and brokerage services are provided by SoFi Securities LLC, Member FINRA (www.finra.org)/SIPC(www.sipc.org). Clearing and custody of all securities are provided by APEX Clearing Corporation.
For additional disclosures related to the SoFi Invest platforms described above please visit SoFi.com/legal.
Neither the Investment Advisor Representatives of SoFi Wealth, nor the Registered Representatives of SoFi Securities are compensated for the sale of any product or service sold through any SoFi Invest platform.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

Claw Promotion: Customer must fund their Active Invest account with at least $25 within 30 days of opening the account. Probability of customer receiving $1,000 is 0.028%. See full terms and conditions.

SOIN0823030

Nov

2023

Understanding the Buy Low, Sell High Strategy

Buy Low, Sell High Strategy: An Investor’s Guide

By Rebecca Lake | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing | Comments Off

When it comes to investing, there are certain rules of thumb that investors are often encouraged to follow. One of the most-repeated adages in investing is to “buy low, sell high.”

Buying low and selling high simply means purchasing securities at one price, then selling them later at a higher price. This bit of investing wisdom offers a relatively straightforward take on how to realize profits in the market. But figuring out how to buy low and sell high — and make this strategy work — is a bit more complicated. Timing the market is not a perfect science, and understanding that implementing a buy low, sell high strategy is more complicated than it sounds is critical to investor success.

Key Points

• Buy low, sell high is an investment strategy that involves purchasing securities at a lower price and selling them later at a higher price.

• Timing the market and implementing this strategy can be challenging, as market movements are unpredictable.

• Understanding stock market cycles and trends can help determine when to buy low and sell high.

• Technical indicators and moving averages can assist in identifying pricing trends and points of resistance.

• Investor biases and herd mentality can impact decision-making, so it’s important to make rational choices based on research and analysis.

What Does It Mean to “Buy Low, Sell High”?

“Buy low, sell high” is an investment philosophy that advocates buying stocks or other securities at a lower price than you can later sell them. This is the opposite of buying high and selling low, which effectively results in investors selling stocks at a loss.

When investors buy low and sell high, they may do so to maximize profits. For example, a day trader may purchase shares of XYZ stock at $10 in the morning, then turn around and sell them for $30 per share in the afternoon if the stock’s price increases. The result is a $20 profit per share, less trading fees or commissions.

Likewise, a buy and hold investor may purchase stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or mutual funds and hold onto them for years or even decades. The payoff comes if they sell those securities later for more than what they paid for them.

💡 Recommended: How to Know When to Sell a Stock

4 Tips on How to Buy Low and Sell High

The following tips may help investors develop a buy low, sell high strategy (or avoid the buy high, sell low trap).

1. Investing with the Business Cycle

Understanding stock market cycles and their correlation to the business cycle can help when determining how to buy low and sell high.

The business cycle is the rise and fall in economic activity that an economy experiences over time. If the business cycle is in an expansion phase and the economy is growing, for instance, then stock prices may be on the upswing as well. On the other hand, if it’s become apparent that economic growth has peaked, that could be a signal for stock price drops to come as an economy slows or enters into a recession.

But like most strategies that aim to buy low and sell high, investing with the business cycle can be challenging.

It’s also important to remember that security prices typically don’t move in a straight line up or down in lockstep with a specific phase of the business cycle. Instead, most securities experience a level of volatility, where prices move up or down (or both) in the short term before reverting to the mean.

2. Look at Stock Pricing Trends

Investors who want to buy low may find it helpful to pay attention to pricing trends or technical indicators. Tracking trends for individual securities, for a particular stock market sector, or the market as a whole can help investors get a sense of what kind of momentum is driving prices.

For instance, an investor wondering how low a stock price can go can look at technical indicator trends to identify significant pricing dips or rises in the stock’s history. This can make it easier to determine when a stock or security has reached its bottom, opening the door for buying opportunities. Conversely, investors can also use trends to evaluate when a stock has likely reached its high point, indicating that it’s prime time to sell.

3. Use Moving Averages

Moving averages are a commonly used indicator for technical analysis. A moving average represents the average price of a security over a set time period. So to find a simple moving average, for example, an investor would choose a time period to measure. Then they’d add up the stock’s closing price each day for that time period and divide it by the number of days.

The moving average formula can help compare stock pricing and determine points of resistance. In other words, they can tell investors where stock prices have topped out or bottomed out over time. Moving averages can smooth out occasional pricing blips that temporarily push stock prices up or down.

Comparing one moving average to another, such as the 50-day moving average to the 200-day moving average, can also help investors to spot sustainable up or down pricing trends. All this can help when deciding when to buy low or sell high.

4. Beware of Investor Bias

An investor bias is a pattern of behavior that influences reactions to a changing market. For example, noise trading happens when an investor makes a trade without considering the state of the market or timing. The investor may follow pricing trends but make trades without considering whether the time is right to buy or sell.

Investors who give in to biases may find themselves following a herd mentality when it comes to making trades. If news of a pending interest rate hike sparks fear in the markets, investors may start panic selling in droves. This can, in turn, cause stock prices to drop. On the other hand, irrational exuberance for a specific stock or type of security can push prices up, causing an unsustainable market bubble.

Investors who can refrain from being influenced by the crowd stand a better chance of making rational decisions about when to buy or when to sell to either maximize profits or minimize losses.

Pros and Cons of Buy Low, Sell High

A buy low, sell high strategy can work for investors, but while it’s a worthy goal, the implementation can be difficult. Investors who are too focused on timing the stock market can run into difficulties.

Benefits of Buy Low, Sell High

Buying low and selling high can yield these advantages to investors.

• Bargain-buying opportunities. If investor sentiment is causing fear and panic to take over the market and push stock prices down, that could open a door for buy low, sell high investors as they buy the dip. Individuals who ignore market panic could purchase stocks and other securities at a discount, only to benefit later once the market rebounds and prices begin to rise again.

• Potential for high returns. An investor skilled at spotting trendings and reading the market cycle could reap sizable profits using a buy low, sell high strategy. The wider the gap between a stock’s purchase and sale price, the higher the profit margin.

• Beat the market. A buy low, sell high approach could also help investors to beat the market if their portfolio performs better than expected. This might be preferable for active traders who forgo a passive or indexing approach to investing.

Disadvantages of Buy Low, Sell High

Attempting to buy low and sell high also holds some risks for investors.

• Timing the market is imperfect. There’s no way to time the market and which way stock prices will go at any given moment with 100% accuracy. So there’s still some risk for investors who jump the gun on when to buy or sell if stocks have yet to reach their respective lowest or highest points.

• Being left out of the market. Investors who want to buy low and sell high would not want to buy securities when the market is up. That practice, however, could lead to substantial time out of the market entirely, especially during bull markets.

• Biases can influence decision-making. Investment biases and herd mentality can wreak havoc in a portfolio if an investor allows it. Instead of buying low and selling at a profit later, investors may find themselves in a buy high, sell low cycle where they lose money on investments.

• Pricing doesn’t tell the whole story. While tracking stock pricing trends and moving averages can be useful, they don’t offer a complete picture of what drives pricing changes. For that reason, it’s important for investors also to consider other factors, such as consumer sentiment, the possibility of a merger, or geopolitical events, influencing stock prices.

Alternatives to Buy Low, Sell High

Buying low and selling high is not a foolproof way to match or beat the market’s performance. It’s easy to make mistakes and lose money when attempting to time the market unless, of course, you possess a crystal ball or psychic abilities.

There are, however, other ways to invest successfully without trying to get market timing right. Take dollar-cost averaging, for example. This strategy involves staying invested in the market continuously through its changing cycles. Instead of trying to time when to buy or sell, investors continue making new investments. Over time, the highs and lows in stock pricing average out.

A dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) is another option. Investors who own dividend-paying stocks may have the opportunity to enroll in a DRIP. Instead of receiving dividend payouts as cash, they’re reinvesting into additional shares of the same stock. Similar to dollar-cost averaging, this approach could make it easier to ride out the ups and downs of the market over time and eliminate the stress of deciding when to buy or sell.

Investing with SoFi

While buying high and selling low may be a good investment strategy, it can be challenging to implement. Executing a buy low, sell high plan successfully means researching and doing due diligence to understand how the market works.

For investors who prefer a more hands-off investing approach, automated investing may be a better option. One way to get started is by opening an online brokerage account with SoFi Invest®. With SoFi automated investing, you can build wealth automatically with competitive fees.

Open an automated investing account and start investing for your future with as little as $1.

FAQ

Is buying low and selling high a good strategy?

Buying low and selling high is generally a good strategy as it allows you to take advantage of price movements in the market. However, there is no guarantee that this strategy will always be successful, and you may end up losing money if the market conditions are not favorable.

Is it illegal to buy low and sell high?

There is no law against buying low and selling high. Most investors make money by buying a security at a low price and then selling it later at a higher price.

Why do you sell high and buy low?

Many investors sell high and buy low because they want to take advantage of market conditions to realize a positive return. When the market is high, investors may sell an investment they purchased at a lower price to make a profit.

Photo credit: iStock/katleho Seisa

Nov

2023

What Is Mean Reversion and How Can You Trade It?

By Matthew Zeitlin | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing, Terminology | Comments Off

Mean reversion is a mathematical concept which holds that over time statistical measurements return to a long-run normal. In investing, mean reversion holds that while a market or an asset may go up and down in the short-term, over time, it returns to its long-term trend.

If traders expect a market to revert to the mean, they can use that expectation to inform their strategy going forward.

Key Points

• Mean reversion is a mathematical concept that states assets tend to return to their long-term trends over time.

• Traders may use mean reversion to inform their strategies and expect assets to return to their historical behaviors.

• Mean reversion applies not only to individual stocks, but also to sectors, commodities, and foreign currencies.

• Implementing a mean reversion strategy requires identifying patterns and timing the reversion correctly.

• Mean reversion strategies depend on regularities staying consistent, and there are risks if structural shifts occur in the market or economy.

What Is Mean Reversion?

When stocks revert to the mean, their returns or other characteristics match what they’ve been over a longer period of time than the recent past. This can mean that a stock that becomes highly volatile may revert back to being less volatile; a stock that becomes quite expensive (meaning its price far outpaces its earnings) can become cheap; and, quite importantly, the other way around. Mean reversion can work in both directions.

The mean reversion concept not only applies to individual shares, but also to whole sectors of the economy or of the stock market, like, say, consumer product companies or pharmaceutical companies or any other chunk of the market that shares enough with each other to be classed together. Alternative assets, such as commodities or foreign currencies can also revert to the mean.

The theory applies to more than just prices, the volatility of a given asset can mean revert, which can matter for trading and pricing more exotic financial products like options and other derivatives.

💡 Quick Tip: Before opening any investment account, consider what level of risk you are comfortable with. If you’re not sure, start with more conservative investments, and then adjust your portfolio as you learn more.

Mean Reversion Strategies

With any generality or principle of the market comes the obvious question: Is there a strategy here? Can this be traded? Mean reversion trading is a strategy based on reversion to the mean happening, basically that stocks or some asset will return to its typical, long-run historical behavior.

Actually working out a mean reversion strategy is not as simple as thinking a certain stock is out of whack and waiting for things to get back to normal, it requires the ability to flag patterns to make an educated guess about when mean reversion will happen.

After all, if you just know that a stock is going to revert to the mean, you can still pile up large losses or miss out on big gains if you can’t time the reversion correctly — go too early and you’ll have to eat the stock being the “wrong” price before reversion to the mean happens, go too late and the gains have already evaporated as the change in price or returns has already occurred.

The Risks of Mean Reversion Strategy

Mean reversion strategies depend on statistical and historical regularites staying, well, regular. There are some that are pretty well validated, although with sharp and scary exceptions, like that stocks tend to go up over time and outperform other asset classes. But mean reversion involves certain relationships between stocks and assets staying true over time.

In some cases, mean reversion never occurs. Companies or sectors can have continually growing returns over a long period of time if there’s some kind of structural shift in the economy or market in which they operate. This can mean that returns increase over time or stay quite high.

This can happen for a few reasons. A company could gain or lose a dominant position in a given market, technological changes can advantage certain firms and disadvantage others, such that returns move permanently (or at least close enough to permanently for a given investment strategy) to a higher level and lower to another. Or there could be a global pandemic that permanently changes the way that companies do business, or long-run inflation that impacts profitability.

How to Implement a Mean Reversion Strategy

There are some basic statistical and financial tools to help create mean reversion strategy. As always, active trading and trying to time the market is risky and sometimes the whole market moves up and down and that can swamp whatever strategy you might have for an individual stock or sector.

Part of implementing a mean reversion strategy is getting a sense of stock trends or a trend trading strategy, whether past movement in a stock up or down is indicative of continuing in that direction.

This can involve trying to discern bullish indicators for stocks, giving you a sense of when stock returns are likely to go up. Often traders combine this strategy with forms of technical analysis, including the use of candlestick patterns.

Recommended: Important Candlestick Patterns to Know

Alternatively, you will need to have a sense of when a stock is underperforming in order to profit from buying it before it reverts to the mean upwards.

Factors in Creating a Mean Reversion Strategy

There are many factors that institutional and retail investors need to consider when devising a mean reversion strategy.

Determining the Mean

In this case, you’ll need to think about what period of time you are using to determine a stock or sector’s “normal” or “average” behavior. This matters because it will determine how long you decide to hold a stock or when you plan to sell it before or after the reversion to the mean occurs.

Timing

To execute a mean reversion strategy, you have to know when a stock’s price movement is sufficient to execute the trade. It helps to determine this point in advance.

Determine the Bounds

What is the “normal” behavior, whether it’s price-to-equity ratio, volatility, or some other metric you’re looking at. To determine whether something is far beyond its mean, either high or low, you need a good sense of its normal range.

Qualitative Factors

Mean reversion and trading reversion to the mean is, of course, a quantitative endeavor. You need to compile statistics and make projections going forward in order to implement the strategy. But you also need to know what’s going on in the “real world” beyond the statistics.

If something is driving prices or volatility or some other metric higher or lower that’s likely to persist over time, mean reversion may not be a great bet. If, however, there’s something truly transient that’s the catalyst for large moves up and down that will then revert to the mean, then maybe the strategy is more likely to work.

Exit Strategy

As with most investments, it’s helpful to have an exit strategy determined ahead of time. This can help you limit your losses in the case that the asset ultimately does not revert to the mean.

💡 Quick Tip: Did you know that opening a brokerage account typically doesn’t come with any setup costs? Often, the only requirement to open a brokerage account — aside from providing personal details — is making an initial deposit.

The Takeaway

Mean reversion refers to an asset’s tendency to stick to typical value increases over time. Again, while volatility may play a role in short-term price or value changes, most assets will follow a long-term appreciation line, and despite short-term rises or falls in price, they’ll likely revert to the mean.

Traders who follow mean reversion strategies assume that a specific stock or sector will return to its long-term characteristics. The strategy can be helpful when determining an investing strategy for either individual assets or for a market, overall.

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

Photo credit: iStock/LaylaBird

Nov

2023

What Is Mark to Market and How Does It Work?

Mark to Market Definition and Uses in Account & Investing

By Rebecca Lake | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing | Comments Off

The term “mark to market” refers to an accounting method used to measure the value of assets based on current market conditions. Mark to market accounting seeks to determine the real value of assets based on what they could be sold for right now.

That can be useful in a business setting when a company is trying to gauge its financial health or get a valuation estimate ahead of a merger or acquisition. Aside from accounting, mark to market also has applications in investing when trading stocks, futures contracts, and mutual funds. For traders and investors, it can be important to understand how this concept works.

Key Points

• Mark to market is an accounting method used to determine the current value of assets based on market conditions.

• It is used in business to assess financial health and valuation, as well as in investing for trading stocks, futures contracts, and mutual funds.

• Mark to market accounting adjusts asset values based on current market conditions to estimate their potential sale value.

• Pros of mark to market accounting include accurate valuations for asset liquidation, value investing, and establishing collateral value for loans.

• Cons include potential inaccuracies, volatility skewing valuations, and the risk of devaluing assets in an economic downturn.

What Is Mark to Market?

Mark to market is, in simple terms, an accounting method that’s used to calculate the current or real value of a company’s assets, as noted. Mark to market can tell you what an asset is worth based on its fair market value.

Mark to market accounting is meant to create an accurate estimate of a company’s financial status and value year over year. This accounting method can tell you whether a company’s assets have increased or declined in value. When liabilities are factored in, mark to market can give you an idea of a company’s net worth.

💡 Quick Tip: The best stock trading app? That’s a personal preference, of course. Generally speaking, though, a great app is one with an intuitive interface and powerful features to help make trades quickly and easily.

How Mark to Market Accounting Works

Mark to market accounting works by adjusting the value of assets based on current market conditions. The idea is to determine how much an asset — whether it be a piece of equipment or an investment — could be worth if it were to be sold immediately.

If a company were in a cash crunch, for example, and wanted to sell off some of its assets, mark to market accounting could give an idea of how much capital it might be able to raise. The company would try to determine as accurately as possible what its marketable assets are worth.

In stock trading, mark to market value is determined for securities by looking at volatility and market performance. Specifically, you’re looking at a security’s current trading price then making adjustments to value based on the trading price at the end of the trading day.

There are other ways mark to market can be used beyond valuing company assets or securities. In insurance, for example, the mark to market method is used to calculate the replacement value of personal property. Calculating net worth, an important personal finance ratio, is also a simple form of mark to market accounting.

Mark-to-Market Accounting: Pros and Cons

Mark to market accounting can be useful when evaluating how much a company’s assets are worth or determining value when trading securities. But it’s not an entirely foolproof accounting method.

Mark to Market Pros	Mark to Market Cons
• Can help establish accurate valuations when companies need to liquidate assets • Useful for value investors when making investment decisions • May make it easier for lenders to establish the value of collateral when extending loans	• Valuations are not always 100% accurate since they’re based on current market conditions • Increased volatility may skew valuations of company assets • Companies may devalue their assets in an economic downturn, which can result in losses

Mark to Market Pros

Mark to Market Cons

• Can help establish accurate valuations when companies need to liquidate assets

• Useful for value investors when making investment decisions

• May make it easier for lenders to establish the value of collateral when extending loans

• Valuations are not always 100% accurate since they’re based on current market conditions

• Increased volatility may skew valuations of company assets

• Companies may devalue their assets in an economic downturn, which can result in losses

Pros of Mark to Market Accounting

There are a few advantages of mark to market accounting:

• It can help generate an accurate valuation of company assets. This may be important if a company needs to liquidate assets or it’s attempting to secure financing. Lenders can use the mark to market value of assets to determine whether a company has sufficient collateral to secure a loan.

• It can help mitigate risk. If a value investor is looking for new companies to invest in, for example, having an accurate valuation is critical for avoiding value traps. Investors who rely on a fundamental approach can also use mark to market value when examining key financial ratios, such as price to earnings (P/E) or return on equity (ROE).

• It may make it easier for lenders to establish the value of collateral when extending loans. Mark to market may provide more accurate guidance in terms of collateral value.

Cons of Mark to Market Accounting

There are also some potential disadvantages of using mark to market accounting:

• It may not be 100% accurate. Fair market value is determined based on what you expect someone to pay for an asset that you have to sell. That doesn’t necessarily guarantee you would get that amount if you were to sell the asset.

• It can be problematic during periods of increased economic volatility. It may be more difficult to estimate the value of a company’s assets or net worth when the market is experiencing uncertainty or overall momentum is trending toward an economic downturn.

• Companies may inadvertently devalue their assets in a downturn. If the market’s perception of a company, industry, or sector turns negative, it could spur a sell-off of assets. Companies may end up devaluing their assets if they’re liquidating in a panic. This can have a boomerang effect and drive further economic decline, as it did in the 1930s when banks marked down assets following the 1929 stock market crash.

Mark to Market in Investing

In investing, mark to market is used to measure the current value of securities, portfolios or trading accounts. This is most often used in instances where investors are trading futures or other securities in margin accounts.

Futures are derivative financial contracts, in which there’s an agreement to buy or sell a particular security at a specific price on a future date. Margin trading involves borrowing money from a brokerage in order to increase purchasing power.

Understanding mark to market is important for meeting margin requirements to continue trading. Investors typically have to deposit cash or have marginable securities of $2,000 or 50% of the securities purchased. The maintenance margin reflects the amount that must be in the margin account at all times to avoid a margin call.

In simple terms, margin calls are requests for more money. FINRA rules require the maintenance margin to be at least 25% of the total value of margin securities. If an investor is subject to a margin call, they’ll have to sell assets or deposit more money to reach their maintenance margin and continue trading.

In futures trading, mark to market is used to price contracts at the end of the trading day. Adjustments are made to reflect the day’s profits or losses, based on the closing price at settlement. These adjustments affect the cash balance showing in a futures account, which in turn may affect an investor’s ability to meet margin maintenance requirements.

💡 Quick Tip: How do you decide if a certain trading platform or app is right for you? Ideally, the investment platform you choose offers the features that you need for your investment goals or strategy, e.g., an easy-to-use interface, data analysis, educational tools.

Mark to Market Example

Futures markets follow an official daily settlement price that’s established by the exchange. In a futures contract transaction you have a long trader and a short trader. The amount of value gained or lost in the futures contract at the end of the day is reflected in the values of the accounts belonging to the short and long trader.

So, assume a farmer takes a short position in 10 soybean futures contracts to hedge against the possibility of falling commodities prices. Each contract represents 5,000 bushels of soybeans and is priced at $5 each. The farmer’s account balance is $250,000. This account balance will change daily as the mark to market value is recalculated. Here’s what that might look like over a five-day period.

Day	Futures Price	Change in Value	Gain/Loss	Cumulative Gain/Loss	Account Balance
1	$5				$250,00
2	$5.05	+0.05	-2,500	-2,500	$247,500
3	$5.03	-0.02	+1,000	-1,500	$248,500
4	$4.97	-0.06	+3,000	+1,500	$251,500
5	$4.90	-0.07	+3,500	+5,000	$255,000

Since the farmer took a short position, a decline in the value of the futures contract results in a positive gain for their account value. This daily pattern of mark to market will continue until the futures contract expires.

Conversely, the trader who holds a long position in the same contract will see their account balance move in the opposite direction as each new gain or loss is posted.

Mark to Market in Recent History

Mark to market accounting can become problematic if an asset’s market value and true value are out of sync. For example, during the financial crisis of 2008-09, mortgage-backed securities (MBS) became a trouble spot for banks. As the housing market soared, banks raised valuations for mortgage-backed securities. To increase borrowing and sell more loans, credit standards were relaxed. This meant banks were carrying a substantial amount of subprime loans.

As asset prices began to fall, banks began pulling back on loans to keep their liabilities in balance with assets. The end result was a housing bubble which sparked a housing crisis. During this time, the U.S. economy would enter one of the worst recessions in recent history.

The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) eased rules regarding the use of mark to market accounting in 2009. This permitted banks to keep the values of mortgage-backed securities on their balance sheets when the value of those securities had dropped significantly. The measure meant banks were not forced to mark the value of those securities down.

Can You Mark Assets to Market?

The FASB oversees mark to market accounting standards. These standards, along with other accounting and financial reporting rules, apply to corporate entities and nonprofit organizations in the U.S. But it’s possible to use mark to market principles when making trades.

If you’re trading futures contracts, for instance, mark to market adjustments are made to your cash balance daily, based on the settlement price of the securities you hold. Your cash balance will increase or decrease based on the gains or losses reported for that day.

If the market moves in your favor, your account’s value would increase. But if the market moves against you and your futures contracts drop in value, your cash balance would adjust accordingly. You’d have to pay attention to maintenance margin requirements in order to avoid a margin call.

Which Assets Are Marked to Market?

Generally, the types of assets that are marked to market are ones that are bought and sold for cash relatively quickly — otherwise known as marketable securities. Assets that can be marked to market include stocks, futures, and mutual funds. These are assets for which it’s possible to determine a fair market value based on current market conditions.

When measuring the value of tangible and intangible assets, companies may not use the mark to market method. In the case of equipment, for example, they may use historical cost accounting which considers the original price paid for an asset and its subsequent depreciation. Meanwhile, different valuation methods may be necessary to determine the worth of intellectual property or a company’s brand reputation, which are intangible assets.

Mark to Market Losses

Mark to market losses occur when the value of an asset falls from one day to the next. A mark to market loss is unrealized since it only reflects the change in valuation of asset, not any capital losses associated with the sale of an asset for less than its purchase price. The loss happens when the value of the asset or security in question is adjusted to reflect its new market value.

Mark to Market Losses During Crises

Mark to market losses can be amplified during a financial crisis when it’s difficult to accurately determine the fair market value of an asset or security. When the stock market crashed, for instance, in 1929, banks were moved to devalue assets based on mark to market accounting rules. This helped turn what could have been a temporary recession into the Great Depression, one of the most significant economic events in stock market history.

Mark to Market Losses in 2008

During the 2008 financial crisis, mark to market accounting practices were a target of criticism as the housing market crashed. The market for mortgage-backed securities vanished, meaning the value of those securities took a nosedive.

Banks couldn’t sell those assets, and under mark to market accounting rules they had to be revalued. As a result banks collectively reported around $2 trillion in total mark to market losses.

The Takeaway

Mark to market is, as discussed, an accounting method that’s used to calculate the current or real value of a company’s assets. Mark to market is a helpful principle to understand, especially if you’re interested in futures trading.

When trading futures or trading on margin, it’s important to understand how mark to market calculations could affect your returns and your potential to be subject to a margin call. As always, if you feel like you’re in the weeds, it can be beneficial to speak with a financial professional for guidance.

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

FAQ

Is mark to market accounting legal?

Mark to market account is a legal accounting practice, and is overseen by the FASB. Though it has been used in the past to cover financial losses, it remains a legal and viable method.

Is mark to market accounting still used?

Yes, mark to market accounting is still used both by businesses and individuals for investments and personal finance needs. In some sectors of the economy, it may even remain as one of the primary accounting methods.

What are mark to market losses?

Mark to market losses are losses that are generated as a result of an accounting entry, as opposed to a loss generated by the sale of an asset. The loss is incurred, under mark to market accounting, when the value of an asset declines, not when it is sold for less than it was purchased.

Photo credit: iStock/Drazen_

Nov

2023

Guide to Calculating EPS and Why It Matters

By Brian Nibley | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing, Terminology | Comments Off

Earnings per share (EPS) tells investors a company’s ability to produce income for shareholders, and relates to its profitability. To calculate EPS, investors can use a ratio that takes a company’s quarterly or annual net income and divide it by the number of outstanding shares of stock on the market.

Knowing a stock’s earnings per share can be a valuable portfolio benchmarking tool. Think of EPS as GPS for where a public company is on the value map, based on how profitable it has been. Further, knowing an investment’s EPS gives investors — and portfolio managers — a good indicator of a stock’s performance over a specific period of time and its potential share price performance in the near future.

Key Points

• Earnings per share (EPS) is a ratio that measures a company’s ability to generate income for shareholders.

• EPS is calculated by dividing a company’s net income by the number of outstanding shares of stock.

• EPS is a valuable tool for benchmarking a company’s profitability and assessing its potential share price performance.

• Basic EPS includes all outstanding stock shares, while diluted EPS considers additional assets like convertible securities.

• EPS may help investors evaluate a company’s financial health, make investment decisions, and assess risk.

What Is Earnings Per Share (EPS)?

The starting point for any conversation about the EPS ratio is the earnings report companies issue to regulators, shareholders, and potential investors. Earnings reports play a major role, if not the starring role, during earnings season.

Publicly traded companies must, by law, report their earnings quarterly and annually. Earnings represent the net income a company generates (after taxes and after expenses are deducted), along with an estimate of what profits or losses can be expected going forward.

Typically, investment analysts, money managers and investors look at earnings as a major component of a company’s profit potential, with earnings per share a particularly useful measurement tool when gauging a company’s financial prospects.

While a company’s earnings call represents a publicly traded company’s revenues, minus operating expenses, earnings per share is different.

EPS indicates a firm’s earnings for investors, divided by the company’s number of remaining shares. Earnings per share is perhaps most optimal when comparing EPS rates of publicly traded firms operating in the same industry.

It is likely not, however, the only investment measurement tool when researching stocks and funds. Other key indicators, like share price, market share, market capitalization, dividend growth, and historical performance may also be added to the investment assessment mix. In all, though, it’s an important tool that can help determine the investing risk at play when making investing decisions.

If you’re wondering how to find earnings per share, investors can find a company’s quarterly and yearly EPS by visiting the firm’s investor relations page on its website or by plugging in the stock’s ticker symbol on major business and finance media platforms.

💡 Quick Tip: Before opening an investment account, know your investment objectives, time horizon, and risk tolerance. These fundamentals will help keep your strategy on track and with the aim of meeting your goals.

Basic and Diluted EPS

When companies report earnings per share, they may do so in two forms: basic EPS or diluted EPS. Each has key distinctions that investors should know about. Basic EPS is a good barometer of a firm’s financial health, while diluted EPS represents a deeper dive into a company’s financial metrics and its use of alternative assets like convertible securities.

Basic

Basic earnings per share, or basic EPS, includes all of a publicly traded company’s outstanding stock shares.

Diluted

Diluted earnings per share, or diluted eps, includes all of a company’s outstanding stock shares, plus its investable assets, like stock options, stock warrants, and other forms of convertible investments tied to a company’s financial performance that could become common stocks one day.

One big takeaway for both EPS models is that any major deviation between basic and diluted EPS calculations should be considered a warning sign to investors, as it indicates that a company’s use of convertible securities is complicated and still in flux.

That scenario may indicate that the company isn’t in an ideal position to provide accurate share value to the investing public at a given time.

Why Is EPS Important to Investors

EPS calculations are not only a snapshot of a company’s profit performance, but they can also be used to evaluate a company’s stock price going forward. Even a moderate increase in EPS may indicate that a company’s profit potential is on the upside, and investors may take that as a sign to buy the company’s stock.

Conversely, a small decrease in a company’s EPS from quarter to quarter may trigger a red flag among investors, who could view a downward EPS trend as a larger profit issue and shy away from buying the company’s stock.

In short, the higher the EPS, the more attractive that company’s stock generally is to investors. But the higher a stock’s EPS, the more expensive its shares are likely to be.

Once investors have an accurate EPS figure, they can decide if a stock is priced fairly and make an appropriate investment decision.

What Is Considered a Good EPS Ratio?

There’s no hard and fast figure to point to when trying to determine a good EPS ratio. It’s perhaps better practice to look, in general, for a higher number. Context is important, too, because whether an EPS is good may depend on the expectations surrounding it.

Companies grow at different rates, and some are in different stages of growth than others. With that in mind, you might expect a different EPS for, say, a tech startup than you would for a decades-old auto manufacturer. So, there are differences and contexts to take into consideration.

But again, it may be best to look for a high number — or, to do some research to figure out what analysts and experts are looking for in terms of a specific company’s EPS. Again, this can all help you determine whether a stock is right for your portfolio and strategy in accordance with your tolerance for risk.

💡 Quick Tip: How to manage potential risk factors in a self directed investment account? Doing your research and employing strategies like dollar-cost averaging and diversification may help mitigate financial risk when trading stocks.

Earnings Per Share Ratio Considerations

Investors should prepare to dig deeper and examine what factors influence EPS figures. These factors are at the top of that list:

• EPS numbers can rise or fall significantly based on earnings’ rise or fall, or as the number of company shares rises or falls.

• A company’s earnings may rise because sales are surging faster than expenses, or if company managers succeed in curbing operations costs. Additionally, investors may get a “false read” on EPS if too many company expenses are shed from the EPS calculation.

• A company’s number of outstanding shares may fall if a company engages in significant stock share buybacks. Correspondingly, shares outstanding may jump when a firm issues new stock shares.

• A company’s profit margins are also a big influencer on EPS. A company that is losing money usually has a negative EPS number. (Then again, that may send a wrong signal to investors. The company could be on the path to profits, and that trend may not show up in an EPS calculation.)

• A price to earnings ratio is another highly useful metric to evaluate a stock’s share growth potential. Investors can find a P/E ratio through a proper calculation of EPS (“P” is the price per share; “E” refers to EPS), though it’s easy to look up a P/E ratio on any site that aggregates stock information.

EPS can be reported for each quarter or fiscal year, or it can be projected into the future with a forward EPS.

How to Calculate EPS

The EPS formula is fairly simple, and it can be used in a couple of different methods, too. The most common way to accurately gauge an EPS figure is through an end-of-period calculation.

EPS Formula

The EPS formula is a company’s net income, minus its preferred dividends, divided by the number of shares outstanding. It looks like this:

EPS = (net income – preferred dividends) / outstanding shares

EPS is perhaps usually calculated using preferred dividends, but it can be calculated without them, too. Here are a couple of examples:

Example With Preferred Dividends

Investors can calculate EPS by subtracting a stock’s total preferred dividends from the company’s net income. Then divide that number by the end-of-period stock shares that are outstanding.

Basic EPS = (net income – preferred dividends) / weighted average number of common shares outstanding

For example, ABC Co. generates a net income of $2 million in a quarter. Simultaneously, the company rolls out $275,000 in preferred dividends and has 12 million outstanding shares of stock. In that calculation, knowing that shares of common stock are equal in value, the company’s earnings per share is $0.14.

(2,000,000 – 275,000) ÷ 12,000,000＝ 0.14

Example Without Preferred Dividends

For smaller publicly traded companies with no preferred dividends, the EPS calculation is more straightforward.

Basic EPS = net income / weighted average number of common shares outstanding

Let’s say DEF Corp. has generated a net income of $50,000 for the year. As the company has no preferred shares outstanding and has 5,000 weighted average shares on an annual basis, its earnings per share is $10.

50,000 ÷ 5,000＝ 10

In any EPS calculation, preferred dividends must be severed from net income. That’s because earnings per share is primarily designed to calculate the net income for holders of common stock.

Additionally, in most EPS end-of-period calculations, a company is mostly likely to calculate EPS for end-of-year financial statements. That’s because companies may issue new stock or buy back existing shares of company stock.

In those instances, a weighted average of common stock shares is required for an accurate EPS assessment. (A weighted average of a company’s outstanding shares can provide more clarity because a fixed number at any given time may provide a false EPS outcome, as share prices can be volatile and change quickly on a day-to-day basis.)

The most commonly used EPS share model calculation is the “trailing 12 months” formula, which tracks a company’s earnings per share by totaling its EPS for the previous four quarters.

The Takeaway

Earnings per share (EPS) can be calculated by investors to get a better sense of a company’s ability to produce income for shareholders. To calculate EPS, investors can use a ratio that takes a company’s quarterly or annual net income and divide it by the number of outstanding shares of stock on the market. There are different variations of the calculation, too.

Earnings trends, up or down, make earnings per share one of the most valuable metrics for assessing investments. Four or five years of positive EPS activity is considered an indicator that a company’s long-term financial prospects are robust and that its share growth should continue to rise.

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

FAQ

How do you calculate EPS by year?

To calculate EPS by year, investors can use the formula that subtracts preferred dividends from net income, and then divide that number by the weighted average of common shares outstanding for the given year.

What is a good EPS ratio?

Each company is different, as is the context surrounding it, so there is no general rule about what makes a “good” EPS ratio for any given stock. Instead, investors should gauge analyst expectations, and consider a company’s age, among other things, to determine if its EPS is good or bad.

What are the two ways to calculate EPS?

Earnings per share (EPS) can be calculated with preferred dividends, or without preferred dividends, depending on the specific company.