drill bit stock

drill bit stock
n.
A stock that has a price under one dollar.
Example Citation:
"Heard the latest lingo on the Street? It's 'drill bit stocks,' as in stocks trading in the drill-bit range (3/64, 5/16, etc.)."
— Andy Serwer, "Loose Change," Fortune, April 30, 2001
Earliest Citation:
"D'Amato sold his Licon stock at a small loss on June 7, 1993, for $ 1.50 a share. Since then, Licon has become what traders call a 'drill bit' stock with offers to buy for about 10 cents a share."
— Jerry Knight, "Stock Firm Seeks to Keep Secret Report Covering D'Amato Trading," The Washington Post, October 1, 1994
Notes:
For those unfamiliar with the hardware section of their local super store, drill bits are identified (mostly) by their diameters, which are measured in fractions of an inch (1/4, 3/8, 7/16, and so on). Stock prices used to have a fractional component, which was generally quoted in sixteenths of a dollar (called a teenie by stock market insiders). So if a stock price is less than a dollar, it would be quoted using just the sixteenths fraction, which might sound like a drill bit diameter.
However, there are no major stock markets that trade in sixteenths nowadays. (The New York Stock Exchange finally converted to the decimal system on January 29, 2001.) So I thought it was a bit peculiar to see a supposedly new term that invokes the old system. After a bit of digging, I found that this term wasn't brand new, but it's not ancient, either.
Related Words: Category:

New words. 2013.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Drill-Bit Stock — A term used to describe shares that trade for prices less than one dollar. The fractional prices are comparable to the diameter measures of drill bits found in a hardware store. Drill bit sizes are described by fractions of an inch whereas drill… …   Investment dictionary

  • Drill bit shank — The shank is the part of a drill bit grasped by the chuck of a drill. The cutting edges of the drill bit are at one end, and the shank is at the other. Different styles of shank/chuck combination deliver different performance, such as allowing… …   Wikipedia

  • Stock Market and Investing — angel investor bear tack black swan Bull Market Babies capitulation bottom carve out casino culture …   New words

  • show-me stock — n. A stock that has fallen in price because of the company s recent poor results, and that won t recover until the company shows a string of profits or other positive news. Example Citation: Chief executive Michael MacMillan acknowledged it will… …   New words

  • bit — Synonyms and related words: ALGOL, COBOL, EDP, FORTRAN, a breath, a continental, a curse, a damn, a darn, a hoot, ace, act, actor, aculeus, acumination, afterpiece, allotment, allowance, alphabetic data, alphanumeric code, anchor watch, angular… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Bar stock — Storage area containing assorted bar stock. Bar stock, also colloquially known as billet,[1] is a common form of raw purified metal, used by industry to manufacture metal parts and products. Most metal produced by a steel mill or aluminium plant… …   Wikipedia

  • List of stock characters in military fiction — This is a list of stock characters that are used in military fiction. * The Arrogant Pilot (aka Flyboy): this character arrives on base after the premise of the story has been established. The arrogant pilot, along with his distinguished training …   Wikipedia

  • capitulation bottom — (kuh.pich.uh.LAY.shun BAWT.um) n. A stock market low caused by investors surrendering to whatever negative forces are driving prices down. Example Citation: It may sound like a nasty medical condition but capitulation bottom was just one phrase… …   New words

  • falling knife — n. A stock whose price is currently undergoing a steep or long standing decline. Example Citation: Let s look at Oak Brook based McDonald s Corp. (MCD). The stock closed Friday at $ 33.38 a share, up $ 1.38 on the week, but far off its 52 week… …   New words

  • dead cat bounce — (ded kat BOWNS) n. A temporary recovery from a major drop in a stock s price. Also: dead cat bounce. Example Citations: After glancing at the top performing funds of the second quarter, investors may be forgiven for wondering if they have somehow …   New words

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”