R: What it Means, Uses, Financial Formulas (2024)

What Does R Mean?

In securities trading, the letter R has a special meaning when added to the end of a ticker symbol. The letter R has a different meaning when applied as part of financial formula where it usually means some form of return.

On the NASDAQ exchange, R is used as a fifth letter in a company ticker symbol when the security being traded is a rights offering. Rights offerings allow shareholders the opportunity to purchase more shares directly from the company at a special price.

Key Takeaways

  • The Letter R at the end of a NASDAQ ticker symbol means the security being quoted is a rights offering.
  • Rights offerings that are sold by shareholders are traded on the open market.
  • In financial formulas the letter R designates Returns.

Understanding Uses of R

When added to the end of a ticker symbol, the letter R designates that the shares in question are a rights offering. This is an issue of rights to a company's existing shareholders that entitles them to buy additional shares directly from the company in proportion to their existing holdings within a fixed time period called the subscription period, which typically lasts one to three months. In a rights offering, a subscription price at which each share may be purchased is normally at a discount to the current market price.

Existing shareholders are not obligated to buy additional shares. They may decline to exercise their rights or, if the rights are transferable, they may sell them on the open market. Such securities are quoted on stock exchanges and traded with varying degrees of liquidity depending on the company involved.

Nasdaq-listed securities usually have four or five characters. The ticker symbol by itself has four letters; if a fifth letter appears, it identifies the issue as other than a single issue of common or capital stock. The Nasdaq has a fifth-letter identifier for every letter of the alphabet; for example, "D" denotes a new issue, "F" denotes a foreign issue, and "Q" denotes bankruptcy.

Use of R in Financial Formulas

R is also a common symbol representing "return" in many financial formulas. There are many different types of returns and they are usually denoted with the upper or lower case letter "R," though there is no formal designation. If there are multiple returns used in a calculation, they are often given subscript letters.

In formulas, lower case "r" usually represents the required rate of return. RE is usually expected return. RM is usually the return on the market as a whole. Rf or Rrf is usually the risk-free rate of return. R1, R2, R3, Ri are returns in the first, second, third and -ith period, respectively.

For example, the equation for the Sharpe ratio, a measure of risk-adjusted return, is as follows:

Sr=RpRfσpwhere:Sr=SharpeRatioRp=PortfolioriskRf=Riskfreerateσp=Standarddeviationofportfolio\begin{aligned} &\mathit{S}_r = \frac{ \mathit{R}_p - \mathit{R}_f }{ \sigma \mathit{p} } \\ &\textbf{where:}\\ &\mathit{S}_r = \text{Sharpe Ratio} \\ &\mathit{R}_p = \text{Portfolio risk} \\ &\mathit{R}_f = \text{Risk free rate} \\ &\sigma \mathit{p} = \text{Standard deviation of portfolio} \\ \end{aligned}Sr=σpRpRfwhere:Sr=SharpeRatioRp=PortfolioriskRf=Riskfreerateσp=Standarddeviationofportfolio

In this formula, Sr stands for Sharpe Ratio, Rp stands for Risk of the Portfolio being evaluated, and Rf stands for the Risk Free rate, and σp stands for the standard deviation of the portfolio's excess return above the risk free rate.

R: What it Means, Uses, Financial Formulas (2024)

FAQs

What is the meaning of financial formula? ›

What are finance formulas? Finance formulas are principles, facts or rules that you can express using maths symbols to represent financial concepts. They usually have an equal sign and two or more variables. Knowing the value of one quantity can help you apply the formula to determine the value of an unknown quantity.

What is the R formula in finance? ›

Use of R in Financial Formulas

In formulas, lower case "r" usually represents the required rate of return. RE is usually expected return. RM is usually the return on the market as a whole. Rf or Rrf is usually the risk-free rate of return.

What is R in financial maths? ›

- r is the simple annual (or nominal) interest rate (usually expressed as a percentage) - t is the interest period in years. S = P + I. S = P (1 + rt) - S is the future value (or maturity value).

What is a formula in simple terms? ›

A formula is generally a fixed pattern that is used to achieve consistent results. It might be made up of words, numbers, or ideas that work together to define a procedure to be followed for the desired outcome.

What is the most famous formula in finance? ›

In mathematical finance, the Black–Scholes equation, also called the Black–Scholes–Merton equation, is a partial differential equation (PDE) governing the price evolution of derivatives under the Black–Scholes model.

Why is R used in finance? ›

Finance professionals are increasingly turning to R programming because it's ideal for data science, analysis, and visualization tasks. Data analysts can benefit from using R for both data analysis and data science.

Where is R used in finance? ›

R programming is widely used in the banking and finance industry for a variety of tasks, such as: Data analysis and visualization: R is a powerful tool for analyzing large datasets and visualizing the results. Banks and financial institutions use R to analyze market trends, customer data, and financial performance.

What is the use of R formula? ›

Standard Error = (1-r2)/√N

It is the sampling distribution of the standard deviation. The standard error is generally used to refer to any sort of estimate belonging to the standard deviation.

What is basic financial equation examples? ›

For example, Total Assets – Total Liabilities = Total Equity, or Total Assets – Total Equity = Total Liabilities. You move a term from the right side to the left side of the accounting equation by using a minus sign.

What is the basic meaning of financial? ›

What is Finance? Finance is defined as the management of money and includes activities such as investing, borrowing, lending, budgeting, saving, and forecasting. There are three main types of finance: (1) personal, (2) corporate, and (3) public/government.

What does financial mean simple? ›

Financial means relating to or involving money. The company is in financial difficulties. Synonyms: economic, business, money, budgeting More Synonyms of financial.

What is the financial formula in Excel? ›

The seven financial functions in Excel are PV (Present Value), FV (Future Value), NPV (Net Present Value), IRR (Internal Rate of Return), PMT (Payment), RATE, and NPER (Number of Periods). These functions are specifically perform various financial calculations and analyses.

What is an example of financial math? ›

An example can be the use of the simple interest formula, with a savings account. When opening a combination of checking and savings account, bank institutions determine an interest yield for each month of financial growth.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Fr. Dewey Fisher

Last Updated:

Views: 5920

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (42 voted)

Reviews: 81% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Fr. Dewey Fisher

Birthday: 1993-03-26

Address: 917 Hyun Views, Rogahnmouth, KY 91013-8827

Phone: +5938540192553

Job: Administration Developer

Hobby: Embroidery, Horseback riding, Juggling, Urban exploration, Skiing, Cycling, Handball

Introduction: My name is Fr. Dewey Fisher, I am a powerful, open, faithful, combative, spotless, faithful, fair person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.