Sports-Stock Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the terms we use.
The terms we use across Sports Presswire, in plain English.
- Ticker
- The short symbol that identifies a stock on an exchange (e.g. DKNG for DraftKings).
- Market capitalization (market cap)
- A company’s share price multiplied by its shares outstanding — the market’s value of the whole company.
- Large / mid / small cap
- Rough size bands. Small caps are typically newer or faster-growing and can be more volatile.
- P/E ratio
- Price divided by earnings per share. A quick (imperfect) gauge of how expensive a stock is relative to its profits.
- EPS (earnings per share)
- A company’s profit allocated to each share. “Beating EPS” means profit came in above expectations.
- Guidance
- A company’s own forecast for future results. Raising guidance is usually received positively.
- Dividend
- Cash a company pays shareholders out of profits, usually quarterly.
- Dividend yield
- The annual dividend as a percentage of the share price.
- Volume
- How many shares trade in a period. High volume means high interest (and often volatility).
- Liquidity
- How easily a stock can be bought or sold without moving the price. Small caps are often less liquid.
- Beta
- A stock’s sensitivity to the broader market. A beta above 1 tends to swing more than the market.
- Volatility
- How much and how fast a price moves. Sports stocks can be volatile around big events and earnings.
- 52-week high / low
- The highest and lowest prices over the past year — context for where a stock sits today.
- Float
- The number of shares available for public trading (excluding closely-held shares).
- Short interest
- Shares sold short by investors betting the price will fall. High short interest can fuel a short squeeze.
- Short squeeze
- A sharp price rise that forces short sellers to buy back shares, pushing the price even higher.
- Exchange
- The marketplace where a stock trades — e.g. NASDAQ, NYSE, TSX.
- TSX / TSXV
- The Toronto Stock Exchange (and its Venture exchange for smaller, earlier-stage companies).
- CSE
- The Canadian Securities Exchange — a smaller Canadian exchange popular with emerging companies.
- OTC / pink sheets
- “Over-the-counter” markets for shares not listed on a major exchange; often thinly traded and higher risk.
- IPO
- Initial Public Offering — when a company first sells shares to the public.
- SPAC
- A “blank-check” company that raises money to merge with a private business and take it public.
- Sector / vertical
- How we group sports stocks — betting, apparel, teams, media, fitness, esports, collectibles, venues, and more.