What Is a BCG Growth-Share Matrix? The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) growth-share matrix is a planning tool that uses graphical representations of a company’s products and services in an effort to help the company decide what it should keep, sell, or invest more in. The matrix plots a company’s offerings in a four-square matrix, with
What Is a B/C Loan? A B/C loan is a loan to low credit quality borrowers and borrowers with minimal credit history. This type of financing, which includes personal consumer loans and mortgages, is typically issued by alternative lenders charging high-interest rates and fees. They offer a second tier of loan eligibility to subprime or
What Is the Benefit-Cost Ratio (BRC)? The benefit-cost ratio (BCR) is a ratio used in a cost-benefit analysis to summarize the overall relationship between the relative costs and benefits of a proposed project. BCR can be expressed in monetary or qualitative terms. If a project has a BCR greater than 1.0, the project is expected
What Is Barrels Per Day (B/D)? Barrels per day (B/D) is a measure of oil output, represented by the number of barrels of oil produced in a single day. For example, you might hear “country ABC has the potential to produce five million barrels per day.” The abbreviation “bbl/d” can also be used to represent
What Is a Business Development Company (BDC)? A business development company (BDC) is an organization that invests in small- and medium-sized companies as well as distressed companies. A BDC helps these firms grow in the initial stages of their development. With distressed businesses, the BDC helps the companies regain sound financial footing. Similar to closed-end
What Is a Bear? A bear is an investor who believes that a particular security, or the broader market is headed downward and may attempt to profit from a decline in stock prices. Bears are typically pessimistic about the state of a given market or underlying economy. For example, if an investor were bearish on the
What Is a Bear Fund? A bear fund is a mutual fund that investors use to provide higher returns amid market downturns. Bear funds can be actively managed or designed to follow an index. In the example of an index bear fund, the fund tracks the inverse of the index. Bear funds tend to be
What Is a Bear Hug? In business, a bear hug is an offer to buy a publicly listed company at a significant premium to the market price of its shares, designed to appeal to the target company’s shareholders. It’s an acquisition strategy used to pressure a reluctant company board to accept the bid or risk
What is a Bearish Engulfing Pattern? A bearish engulfing pattern is a technical chart pattern that signals lower prices to come. The pattern consists of an up (white or green) candlestick followed by a large down (black or red) candlestick that eclipses or “engulfs” the smaller up candle. The pattern can be important because it shows sellers
Investopedia / Daniel Fishel What Is a Bear Market? A bear market is when a market experiences prolonged price declines. It typically describes a condition in which securities prices fall 20% or more from recent highs amid widespread pessimism and negative investor sentiment. Bear markets are often associated with declines in an overall market or
