A company that goes public via an initial public offering (IPO) and has shares traded on a stock exchange or over the counter. It is required to file regular reports to the SEC about its financial performance and corporate actions. A public company can be taken private via an acquisition.

A situation where a company finds out that a certain product is defective and recalls all of them from the market. This may result in large compensations and mistrust from investors over the competence of management.
However, not recalling clearly dangerous products may cause an even worse backlash from consumers if the defective product is found [...]

The market where new issues are bought by investors and the funds go directly to the underlying entity. After that, the stock/bond/security is considered to be traded on the secondary market.

The market in which securities are traded between investors instead of issuers/underlying entities directly.
A stock is considered a primary market trade when it is going public, but after that, all trades are conducted between investors and it is considered to be traded on the secondary market.

A term for various measures a company’s management can take to fend off a hostile takeover. These include the poison pill, macaroni defense etc.
These may contain important implications for investors. Investor caveat.

A type of entity which raises money from investors in public offering in order to make acquisitions, usually in the high-tech area.
Proponents believe this is a good method of funneling money into new tech companies, while critics believe this is nothing more than another way for investment banks to collect redundant fees.

An economic moat that relies on qualities such as management expertise and top employees rather than brand name, pricing power and etc.
Buffett invests in companies that have soft economic moats. He looks for companies with capable, motivated management. However, this may be hard to evaluate for the average individual investor. Bear Stearns boasted of surviving [...]

A hypothesis that investing smaller firms leads to larger returns than can be gained from investing in larger firms. It is believed that smaller firms have more room for growth and thus can appreciate more rapidly than larger firms.
Most large firms and great success stories start off as small firms. Though the thought of nabbing [...]

A market that is currently experiencing low volume and activity. This can be in a bull or bear market. It is natural for any market to experience a slow market at times.

An order placed below one’s purchase price (or above the price one shorted the stock at) that will be executed and turned into a sell at market (cover at market) order if the price falls (or rises) to that level.
A stop order is used by traders to limit losses. Some traders use mental stops, which [...]