In the context of stock markets, the public float or free float represents the portion of shares of a corporation that are in the hands of public investors as opposed to locked-in shares held by promoters, company officers, controlling-interest investors, or governments. This number is sometimes seen as a better way of calculating market capitalization, because it provides a more accurate reflection (than entire market capitalization) of what public investors consider the company to be worth. [1] In this context, the float may refer to all the shares outstanding that can be publicly traded. [2]
The float is calculated by subtracting the locked-in shares from outstanding shares. For example, a company may have 10 million outstanding shares, with 3 million of them in a locked-in position; this company's float would be 7 million (multiplied by the share price). Stocks with smaller floats tend to be more volatile than those with larger floats. In general, the large holdings of founding shareholders, corporate cross-holdings, and government holdings in partially privatized companies are excluded when calculating the size of a public float.
There are certain regulations to offer public floats, though these regulations might differ from region to region.
For instance, to offer public floats in the United Kingdom, a company must be incorporated, i.e. be a public limited company under UK law. Also, the company should have published or filed audit accounts for at least a three-year period, have trading and revenue earning records for at least three years, its higher management and directors must be competent enough to run a business at that scale, and the company must show that it has a working capital for at least 12 months. Moreover, once the company is listed, the business must be independent from any shareholder with controlling interest (anyone owning more than 30% of the company shares), and after the company is listed, at least 25% of its shares must be in the hands of the general public, that is public float, and the company must have a total market capitalization of not less than £700,000. [3]
By offering a public float, companies gain access to new and large capital, as the general public can invest in the company. [4] This new capital is then used to increase the company's profits. [5]
By public floating, a company gains access to interest-free capital as there is no interest to be paid on shares. Though a dividend may be involved, the terms of dividend liability are far more flexible than terms for loans. [4] Along with this, shares are not considered as a debt, and by public floating, companies can reduce their debts creating a better asset to liability ratio.
By public floating, companies can enhance their credit image. [4] As banks and other credit providing institutions provide credit, more often to a public limited company along with this, sometimes favorable terms are also offered by credit providers because of public limited company status. Along with enhanced credibility, companies can also get higher media coverage and attention of general public. [3]
By public floating, companies are vulnerable to threats of speculations and market fluctuations. During the 2008 financial crisis, several companies went bankrupt because of fluctuations in the stock market, severely limiting their operating capital to the extent that they were unable to pay their creditors and were forced to liquidate their operational assets.
Costs of company registration are also very high making it difficult for certain small businesses to float shares. Along with higher costs, processes of registering and running a company are also very complex. [6] For example, in the UK, in order to run a public limited company, a register of the directors, shareholders, and any shareholder votes, as well as all details of the company's finances must be compiled and kept for a minimum of six years. Along with this, a comprehensive accounting record is also needed like sales and whom they are made to (until and unless it is a retail business), purchases and from whom they are supplied, stock and debts – all of them are necessary to be provided. [6] Along with all these costs, taxes are also to be paid while a company is public floating. For instance, in the UK a company has to pay corporation tax which is 20% if the profit per year is £300,000 or less and 21% if profit is above £300,000.
Public floating also increases pressure on a company to perform. Whenever the general public, as company shareholders, demand dividends without keeping the company's economic circumstances in proper perspective, it increases performance pressure on the company. [4] Secondly, sometimes companies provide false financial reports to sell shares which lead towards further complications in market. In 2005, AIG had to pay a fine of $1.7 billion as a result of improper accounting. [7] Additionally, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008 after using a small firm to secretly manipulate its balance sheets. [8] Both cases illustrate that, as a result of pressure to sell shares, companies may manipulate their financial statements, and later face the consequences (Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy in 2008, AIG's bailout by the U.S. government in 2008).
Less public float may cause illiquidity of stocks of companies due to the low public holdings. One may not be able to transact, buy or sell orders on a respected stock exchange.
A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividends. Securities traded on a stock exchange include stock issued by listed companies, unit trusts, derivatives, pooled investment products and bonds. Stock exchanges often function as "continuous auction" markets with buyers and sellers consummating transactions via open outcry at a central location such as the floor of the exchange or by using an electronic trading platform.
A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-invested in the business. The current year profit as well as the retained earnings of previous years are available for distribution; a corporation is usually prohibited from paying a dividend out of its capital. Distribution to shareholders may be in cash or, if the corporation has a dividend reinvestment plan, the amount can be paid by the issue of further shares or by share repurchase. In some cases, the distribution may be of assets.
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
In finance, equity is an ownership interest in property that may be offset by debts or other liabilities. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of the assets owned. For example, if someone owns a car worth $24,000 and owes $10,000 on the loan used to buy the car, the difference of $14,000 is equity. Equity can apply to a single asset, such as a car or house, or to an entire business. A business that needs to start up or expand its operations can sell its equity in order to raise cash that does not have to be repaid on a set schedule.
The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 of the largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and includes approximately 80% of the total market capitalization of U.S. public companies, with an aggregate market cap of more than $43 trillion as of January 2024.
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public company can be listed on a stock exchange, which facilitates the trade of shares, or not. In some jurisdictions, public companies over a certain size must be listed on an exchange. In most cases, public companies are private enterprises in the private sector, and "public" emphasizes their reporting and trading on the public markets.
A corporate action is an event initiated by a public company that brings or could bring an actual change to the securities—equity or debt—issued by the company. Corporate actions are typically agreed upon by a company's board of directors and authorized by the shareholders. For some events, shareholders or bondholders are permitted to vote on the event. Examples of corporate actions include stock splits, dividends, mergers and acquisitions, rights issues, and spin-offs.
A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares. Shareholders are able to transfer their shares to others without any effects to the continued existence of the company.
A treasury stock or reacquired stock is stock which is bought back by the issuing company, reducing the amount of outstanding stock on the open market.
Preferred stock is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt instrument, and is generally considered a hybrid instrument. Preferred stocks are senior to common stock but subordinate to bonds in terms of claim and may have priority over common stock in the payment of dividends and upon liquidation. Terms of the preferred stock are described in the issuing company's articles of association or articles of incorporation.
In economics and accounting, the cost of capital is the cost of a company's funds, or from an investor's point of view is "the required rate of return on a portfolio company's existing securities". It is used to evaluate new projects of a company. It is the minimum return that investors expect for providing capital to the company, thus setting a benchmark that a new project has to meet.
In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an enterprise. The owner of shares in a company is a shareholder of the corporation. A share is an indivisible unit of capital, expressing the ownership relationship between the company and the shareholder. The denominated value of a share is its face value, and the total of the face value of issued shares represent the capital of a company, which may not reflect the market value of those shares.
Enterprise value (EV), total enterprise value (TEV), or firm value (FV) is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a business. It is a sum of claims by all claimants: creditors and shareholders. Enterprise value is one of the fundamental metrics used in business valuation, financial analysis, accounting, portfolio analysis, and risk analysis.
Mezzanine capital is a type of financing that sits between senior debt and equity in a company's capital structure. It is typically used to fund growth, acquisitions, or buyouts. Technically, mezzanine capital can be either a debt or equity instrument with a repayment priority between senior debt and common stock equity. Mezzanine debt is subordinated debt that represents a claim on a company's assets which is senior only to that of the common shares and usually unsecured. Redeemable preferred stock equity, with warrants or conversion rights, is also a type of mezzanine financing.
A rights issue or rights offer is a dividend of subscription rights to buy additional securities in a company made to the company's existing security holders. When the rights are for equity securities, such as shares, in a public company, it can be a non-dilutive pro rata way to raise capital. Rights issues are typically sold via a prospectus or prospectus supplement. With the issued rights, existing security-holders have the privilege to buy a specified number of new securities from the issuer at a specified price within a subscription period. In a public company, a rights issue is a form of public offering.
Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the reacquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way of returning money to shareholders. When used in coordination with increased corporate leverage, buybacks can increase share prices.
Stocks consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the total number of shares. This typically entitles the shareholder (stockholder) to that fraction of the company's earnings, proceeds from liquidation of assets, or voting power, often dividing these up in proportion to the amount of money each stockholder has invested. Not all stock is necessarily equal, as certain classes of stock may be issued, for example, without voting rights, with enhanced voting rights, or with a certain priority to receive profits or liquidation proceeds before or after other classes of shareholders.
In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance.
In finance, the capital structure substitution theory (CSS) describes the relationship between earnings, stock price and capital structure of public companies. The CSS theory hypothesizes that managements of public companies manipulate capital structure such that earnings per share (EPS) are maximized. Managements have an incentive to do so because shareholders and analysts value EPS growth. The theory is used to explain trends in capital structure, stock market valuation, dividend policy, the monetary transmission mechanism, and stock volatility, and provides an alternative to the Modigliani–Miller theorem that has limited descriptive validity in real markets. The CSS theory is only applicable in markets where share repurchases are allowed. Investors can use the CSS theory to identify undervalued stocks.
Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize or increase shareholder value.