Expert: Doug Ingram - 3/7/2010

Question
When a professor says that the company has 50% in equities, what does that mean?

Answer
There are a few major categories for investments.

They are:
Cash
Bonds (government, company, or municipal debt)
Stocks (shares of ownership in a company - equity!)
Real Estate


Of course there are many other types of investments, but most fit in those categories.

A company that has 50% in equities has half their investments in stock or shares of other companies.

Now, if he had said has 50% equity, he would have meant the company owned 50% of itself (capital) and the other 50% was borrowed or issued shares to other parties.