Offering price See Ask . A cost that a company must pay once, as compared with costs it must pay regularly. One-time charges are generally backed out of earnings for comparisons to prior time periods so that they don't artificially inflate or deflate the company's performance. A buy or sell order that has not yet been canceled or executed. A mutual fund that has an unlimited number of shares available for purchase.
Most mutual funds are open-ended.
See Closed-end fund . Dough that's piling up in the course of a company running its business. Fools love cash generators because they can rely less on outside funding to grow their business. The time it takes to sell a product and collect cash from the sale. An operating cycle can last from several weeks to a number of years.