Glossary · 37 terms

Every metric, by formula and by driver.

Not dictionary prose. Each entry gives the formula, the levers that actually move the number, the statement and XBRL concepts Echelon grounds it to, and the sectors where it stops meaning anything. Most link to a graded lesson that drills the metric on a real filing.

1. Accession numberEDGAR's unique identifier for a single submission — the filing's fingerprint.
2. Adjusted closeThe closing price restated so that corporate actions — splits, dividends, spin-offs — don't appear as price moves.
3. Asset turnoverRevenue generated per dollar of assets — the efficiency lever of the DuPont decomposition.
4. Auditor's reportThe independent auditor's signed opinion inside the annual report: whether the statements fairly present the company's position under GAAP.
5. Balance-sheet identityThe equation the balance sheet is built on: everything a company owns is funded by creditors or by owners, so total assets equal total liabilities plus stockholders' equity — by construction, in every filing.
6. CandlestickA chart element that summarizes one interval of trading in a single shape: the body spans the open and close, the wicks reach the interval's high and low.
7. Capital expendituresCash spent acquiring or upgrading long-lived assets — plants, equipment, data centers — recorded in investing activities rather than expensed against the year's income.
8. Current ratioCurrent assets divided by current liabilities — coverage of the obligations due within a year by the resources expected to convert to cash within a year.
9. Diluted EPSNet income available to common shareholders divided by the weighted-average share count assuming all in-the-money options, RSUs, and convertibles become shares.
10. Dividend payout ratioDividends paid as a share of net income — the fraction of the year's profit distributed to owners rather than retained.
11. DuPont analysisA decomposition of return on equity into three levers: how profitable sales are (net margin), how hard assets work (asset turnover), and how much leverage amplifies the result (equity multiplier).
12. Earnings yieldEarnings per share divided by the share price — the P/E ratio turned upside down, read as a yield.
13. EBITDAEarnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — a rough proxy for pre-investment operating cash generation, used to compare companies across capital structures.
14. Enterprise valueWhat it would cost to own the whole business: the equity's market value plus the debt the buyer assumes, minus the cash that comes along with the keys.
15. Equity multiplierTotal assets divided by stockholders' equity — how many dollars of assets the company operates for each dollar the owners actually funded.
16. EV/EBITDAEnterprise value — market value of the equity plus net debt — divided by EBITDA.
17. EV/SalesEnterprise value divided by revenue — the multiple of last resort when earnings are negative or immature, and the standard lens for high-growth companies.
18. Fiscal yearThe company's own 12-month reporting window — which need not match the calendar.
19. Form 10-KThe audited annual report a US public company files with the SEC — the most complete single document about a business: audited financial statements, management's discussion, risk factors, and the auditor's own opinion.
20. Form 10-QThe quarterly report — condensed financial statements and an updated management discussion, filed for each of the first three fiscal quarters.
21. Form 8-KThe current report — filed within four business days of a material event rather than on a calendar.
22. Free cash flow walkThe bridge from accounting earnings to the cash the business actually generates: start at net income, add back non-cash charges, absorb working-capital swings to reach operating cash flow, then subtract capital expenditure.
23. Gross marginThe share of each revenue dollar left after the direct cost of producing what was sold.
24. Market capitalizationThe market's price for all of a company's equity: the share price times the shares outstanding.
25. Net debtTotal debt minus cash and equivalents — the debt that would remain if the company paid down borrowings with the cash on hand today.
26. Net marginNet income as a share of revenue — the bottom line after every cost: operations, interest, taxes, and one-offs.
27. OHLCThe four prices that summarize an interval of trading: Open, High, Low, Close.
28. Operating leverageThe pattern behind a widening operating margin: revenue growing faster than the cost of running the business.
29. Operating marginOperating income as a share of revenue — what remains after both the direct cost of sales and the operating expenses (R&D, sales & marketing, G&A) that run the business.
30. P/E ratioPrice per share divided by earnings per share — what the market charges for a dollar of current earnings.
31. R&D intensityResearch and development expense as a share of revenue — how much of each sales dollar the company reinvests in building what it will sell next.
32. Retained earningsThe cumulative profits a company has kept rather than paid out — every year's net income, less every dividend, since founding.
33. Return on equityNet income as a share of average shareholders' equity — the accounting return the company earns on its owners' capital.
34. Revenue growthThe change in revenue versus the prior period, as a share of the prior period.
35. VolumeThe number of shares that changed hands during an interval.
36. Weighted-average sharesThe share count used to compute earnings per share: shares outstanding averaged over the period, weighted by how long each tranche was out.
37. Working capitalCurrent assets minus current liabilities — the cash tied up in running the business day to day.