Oil Investor's Business Part III

I am coining a few important terms from IBD, read and take U R mind off of the "spot" or "cash" market right now, after all, with FED decision, it is best to not “anticipate”, don’t be apart of the “knee-jerk” crowd either, but REACT. The answer isn’t as important as the language or to as what you do with the information given to you (you as in everyone).

1. P/E ratio
A valuation ratio of a company's current share price compared to its per-share earnings.
For example, if a company is currently trading at $43 a share and earnings over the last 12 months were $1.95 per share, the P/E ratio for the stock would be 22.05 ($43/$1.95).

EPS is usually from the last four quarters (trailing P/E), but sometimes it can be taken from the estimates of earnings expected in the next four quarters (projected or forward P/E). A third variation uses the sum of the last two actual quarters and the estimates of the next two quarters. Also sometimes known as "price multiple".

A term I personally believe everyone should know;

2. Futures

A financial contract obligating the buyer to purchase an asset (or the seller to sell an asset), such as a physical commodity or a financial instrument, at a predetermined future date and price. Futures contracts detail the quality and quantity of the underlying asset they are standardized to facilitate trading on a futures exchange. Some futures contracts may call for physical delivery of the asset, while others are settled in cash. The futures markets are characterized by the ability to use very high leverage relative to stock markets.

Futures can be used either to hedge or to speculate on the price movement of the underlying asset. For example, a producer of corn could use futures to lock in a certain price and reduce risk (hedge). On the other hand, anybody could speculate on the price movement of corn by going long or short using futures.