Meaning & use
stock turn
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablebusiness
The number of times a company sells and replaces its entire inventory during a particular period, usually a year.
Grammar: Countable: use 'a' or 'the' and a plural form: a stock turn of six, high stock turns.
Patterns
- a stock turn of + number
- high/low stock turn
- improve stock turn
The supermarket chain reported a stock turn of twelve, meaning it sold out its shelves almost every month.
Analysts praised the retailer for its high stock turn, which kept cash flowing and reduced storage costs.
A low stock turn can signal that too much money is tied up in products that are not selling.
Word forms
| plural | stock turns |
|---|
Common combinations
- high stock turn
- The company's high stock turn impressed investors.
- low stock turn
- A low stock turn often means poor sales or overstocking.
- stock turn ratio
- The stock turn ratio is calculated by dividing cost of goods sold by average inventory.
- improve stock turn
- They improved stock turn by using just-in-time ordering.
- annual stock turn
- Our annual stock turn has risen from four to six.
Synonyms and how they differ
- inventory turnover
- This is the more formal and common term in American English and in financial reports; 'stock turn' is a shorter, slightly more British variant.
- stock turnover
- Almost the same meaning, but 'stock turnover' can also refer to the rate at which employees leave and are replaced, so context matters.
Word family
- stockturn noun
- A closed compound spelling of the same term, used mainly in British business writing.
Commonly confused: stock turn or stock return?
stock turn vs stock return
Not the same: 'stock return' means the profit you make from shares, while 'stock turn' is about how quickly a shop sells its goods.
Practice
A shop sells and replaces its entire inventory eight times a year. What is this figure called?
Choose one answer.
'Stock turn' is the number of times inventory is sold and replaced in a period. 'Stock return' is profit from shares, 'stock option' is a right to buy shares, and 'stock split' is dividing existing shares.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stock turn”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.