Stock vs. Flow — What's the Difference?

An accumulation or reserve.

The rate at which something changes over time.

Inventory available for use or sale.

Continuous and time-dependent.

Stock (also capital stock) is all of the shares into which ownership of a corporation is divided. In American English, the shares are collectively known as "stock".

To move or run smoothly with unbroken continuity, as in the manner characteristic of a fluid.

A supply accumulated for future use; a store.

To issue in a stream; pour forth

The total merchandise kept on hand by a merchant, commercial establishment, warehouse, or manufacturer.

To circulate, as the blood in the body.

All the animals kept or raised on a farm; livestock.

To move with a continual shifting of component particles

All the aquatic animals kept or raised in an aquaculture operation.

To proceed steadily and easily

A population of wild animals, especially of a species that is also farmed

To exhibit a smooth or graceful continuity

A kind of financial security granting rights of ownership in a corporation, such as a claim to a portion of the assets and earnings of the corporation and the right to vote for the board of directors. Stock is issued and traded in units called shares.

To hang loosely and gracefully

The stock issued by a particular company

To rise. Used of the tide.

Chiefly British The money invested in a corporation, including debt and equity.

To arise; derive

Chiefly British A bond, especially a government bond.

To be abundant; teem

The trunk or main stem of a tree or another plant.

To move from one place to another in large numbers

A plant or stem onto which a graft is made.

To undergo plastic deformation without cracking or breaking. Used of rocks, metals, or minerals.

A plant or tree from which cuttings and slips are taken.

To release as a flow

The original progenitor of a family line.

To cause to flow

The descendants of a common ancestor; a family line, especially of a specified character

The act of flowing.

Ancestry or lineage; antecedents.

The smooth motion characteristic of fluids.

The type from which a group of animals or plants has descended.

A stream or current.

A race, family, or other related group of animals or plants.

A flood or overflow.

An ethnic group or other major division of the human race.

A residual mass that has stopped flowing

A group of related languages.

A continuous output or outpouring

A group of related families of languages.

A continuous movement or circulation

The raw material out of which something is made.

The amount that flows in a given period of time.

Paper used for printing.

The rising of the tide.

The broth in which meat, fish, bones, or vegetables are simmered for a relatively long period, used as a base in preparing soup, gravy, or sauces.

Continuity and smoothness of appearance.

A main upright part, especially a supporting structure or block.

A general movement or tendency

Stocks(Nautical) The timber frame that supports a ship during construction.

The sequence in which operations are performed.

Often stocks A frame in which a horse or other animal is held for shoeing or for veterinary treatment.

An apparent ease or effortlessness of performance

Stocks A device consisting of a heavy timber frame with holes for confining the ankles and sometimes the wrists, formerly used for punishment.

Movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.

(Nautical) A crosspiece at the end of the shank of an anchor.

The movement of a real or figurative fluid.

The wooden block from which a bell is suspended.

(math) A formalization of the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid, as a group action of the real numbers on a set.

The rear wooden, metal, or plastic handle or support of a rifle, pistol, or automatic weapon, to which the barrel and mechanism are attached.

The rising movement of the tide.

The long supporting structure and mooring beam of field-gun carriages that trails along the ground to provide stability and support.

Smoothness or continuity.

A handle, such as that of a whip, a fishing rod, or various carpentry tools.

The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.

The frame of a plow, to which the share, handles, coulter, and other parts are fastened.

A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare with return pipe which returns fluid to central plant).

A theatrical stock company.

(psychology) A mental state characterized by concentration, focus and enjoyment of a given task.

The repertoire of such a company.

The ability to skilfully rap along to a beat.

A theater or theatrical activity, especially outside of a main theatrical center

(software) The sequence of steps taken in a piece of software to perform some action.

(Botany) Any of several Eurasian and Mediterranean plants of the genus Matthiola in the mustard family, especially M. incana, widely cultivated for its clusters of showy, fragrant, variously colored flowers.

(Scotland) A morass or marsh.

(Games) The portion of a pack of cards or of a group of dominoes that is not dealt out but is drawn from during a game.

(intransitive) To move as a fluid from one position to another.

(Geology) A body of intrusive igneous rock of which less than 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) is exposed.

(intransitive) To proceed; to issue forth.

(Zoology) A compound organism, such as a colony of zooids.

(intransitive) To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.

Personal reputation or status

(intransitive) To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.

Confidence or credence

(intransitive) To hang loosely and wave.

A long white neckcloth worn as part of a formal riding habit.

(intransitive) To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.

A broad scarf worn around the neck, especially by certain clerics.

To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.

Rolling stock.

(transitive) To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.

To supply (a shop) with merchandise.

(transitive) To cover with varnish.

To supply (a farm) with livestock.

(intransitive) To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.

To fill (a stream, for example) with fish.

To move with a continual change of place among the particles or parts, as a fluid; to change place or circulate, as a liquid; as, rivers flow from springs and lakes; tears flow from the eyes.

To keep for future sale or use.

To become liquid; to melt.

To provide (a rifle, for example) with a stock.

To proceed; to issue forth; as, wealth flows from industry and economy.

(Obsolete) To put (someone) in the stocks as a punishment.

To glide along smoothly, without harshness or asperties; as, a flowing period; flowing numbers; to sound smoothly to the ear; to be uttered easily.

To gather and lay in a supply of something

To have or be in abundance; to abound; to full, so as to run or flow over; to be copious.

To put forth or sprout new shoots. Used of a plant.

To hang loose and waving; as, a flowing mantle; flowing locks.

Kept regularly in stock

To rise, as the tide; - opposed to ebb; as, the tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.

Repeated regularly without any thought or originality; routine

To discharge blood in excess from the uterus.

Employed in dealing with or caring for stock or merchandise

To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.

Of or relating to the raising of livestock

To cover with varnish.

Used for breeding

A stream of water or other fluid; a current; as, a flow of water; a flow of blood.

Of or relating to a stock company or its repertoire.

A continuous movement of something abundant; as, a flow of words.

Of or being a conventional character or situation that recurs in many literary or cinematic works.

Any gentle, gradual movement or procedure of thought, diction, music, or the like, resembling the quiet, steady movement of a river; a stream.

A store or supply.

The tidal setting in of the water from the ocean to the shore. See Ebb and flow, under Ebb.

(operations) A store of goods ready for sale; inventory.

A low-lying piece of watery land; - called also flow moss and flow bog.

A supply of anything ready for use.

The motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases)

Railroad rolling stock.

The amount of fluid that flows in a given time

A stack of undealt cards made available to the players.

The act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression

Farm or ranch animals; livestock.

Any uninterrupted stream or discharge

The population of a given type of animal (especially fish) available to be captured from the wild for economic use.

Something that resembles a flowing stream in moving continuously;

(finance) The capital raised by a company through the issue of shares. The total of shares held by an individual shareholder.

Dominant course (suggestive of running water) of successive events or ideas;

The price or value of the stock of a company on the stock market.

Move or progress freely as if in a stream;

A share in a company.

Move along, of liquids;

(figurative) The measure of how highly a person or institution is valued.

Cause to flow;

Any of several types of security that are similar to a stock, or marketed like one.

Be abundantly present;

The raw material from which things are made; feedstock.

Fall or flow in a certain way;

Broth made from meat (originally bones) or vegetables, used as a basis for stew or soup.

Cover or swamp with water

The type of paper used in printing.

Measurement of movement or transfer.

Ellipsis of film stock

Dynamic and changeable.

Plain soap before it is coloured and perfumed.

Represents processes and activities.

Stock theater, summer stock theater.

The trunk and woody main stems of a tree. The base from which something grows or branches.

(horticulture) The plant upon which the scion is grafted.

(by extension) Lineage, family, ancestry.

Any of the several species of cruciferous flowers in the genus Matthiola.

A handle or stem to which the working part of an implement or weapon is attached.

(firearm) The part of a rifle or shotgun that rests against the shooter's shoulder.

The handle of a whip, fishing rod, etc.

Part of a machine that supports items or holds them in place.

The headstock of a lathe, drill, etc.

The tailstock of a lathe.

A bar, stick or rod.

A ski pole.

(nautical) A bar going through an anchor, perpendicular to the flukes.

(nautical) The axle attached to the rudder, which transfers the movement of the helm to the rudder.

(geology) A pipe (vertical cylinder of ore)

A type of (now formal or official) neckwear.

A necktie or cravat, particularly a wide necktie popular in the eighteenth century, often seen today as a part of formal wear for horse riding competitions.

A piece of black cloth worn under a clerical collar.

A bed for infants; a crib, cot, or cradle

(folklore) A piece of wood magically made to be just like a real baby and substituted for it by magical beings.

(obsolete) A cover for the legs; a stocking.

A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post.

A person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense.

The longest part of a split tally stick formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness.

The frame or timbers on which a ship rests during construction.

Red and grey bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.

(biology) In tectology, an aggregate or colony of individuals, such as trees, chains of salpae, etc.

The beater of a fulling mill.

A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado.

To have on hand for sale.

To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to supply.

To allow (cows) to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more prior to sale.

To put in the stocks as punishment.

(nautical) To fit (an anchor) with a stock, or to fasten the stock firmly in place.

To arrange cards in a certain manner for cheating purposes; to stack the deck.

Of a type normally available for purchase/in stock.

Having the same configuration as cars sold to the non-racing public, or having been modified from such a car.

Straightforward, ordinary, just another, very basic.

The stem, or main body, of a tree or plant; the fixed, strong, firm part; the trunk.

The stem or branch in which a graft is inserted.

A block of wood; something fixed and solid; a pillar; a firm support; a post.

Hence, a person who is as dull and lifeless as a stock or post; one who has little sense.

The principal supporting part; the part in which others are inserted, or to which they are attached.

The wood to which the barrel, lock, etc., of a rifle or like firearm are secured; also, a long, rectangular piece of wood, which is an important part of several forms of gun carriage.

The original progenitor; also, the race or line of a family; the progenitor of a family and his direct descendants; lineage; family.

The handle or contrivance by which bits are held in boring; a bitstock; a brace.

Money or capital which an individual or a firm employs in business; fund; in the United States, the capital of a bank or other company, in the form of transferable shares, each of a certain amount; money funded in government securities, called also the public funds; in the plural, property consisting of shares in joint-stock companies, or in the obligations of a government for its funded debt; - so in the United States, but in England the latter only are called stocks, and the former shares.

The block of wood or metal frame which constitutes the body of a plane, and in which the plane iron is fitted; a plane stock.

Same as Stock account, below.

The wooden or iron crosspiece to which the shank of an anchor is attached. See Illust. of Anchor.

Supply provided; store; accumulation; especially, a merchant's or manufacturer's store of goods; as, to lay in a stock of provisions.

The support of the block in which an anvil is fixed, or of the anvil itself.

Domestic animals or beasts collectively, used or raised on a farm; as, a stock of cattle or of sheep, etc.; - called also live stock.

A handle or wrench forming a holder for the dies for cutting screws; a diestock.

That portion of a pack of cards not distributed to the players at the beginning of certain games, as gleek, etc., but which might be drawn from afterward as occasion required; a bank.

The part of a tally formerly struck in the exchequer, which was delivered to the person who had lent the king money on account, as the evidence of indebtedness. See Counterfoil.

A thrust with a rapier; a stoccado.

A covering for the leg, or leg and foot; as, upper stocks (breeches); nether stocks (stockings).

A kind of stiff, wide band or cravat for the neck; as, a silk stock.

A frame of timber, with holes in which the feet, or the feet and hands, of criminals were formerly confined by way of punishment.

The frame or timbers on which a ship rests while building.

Red and gray bricks, used for the exterior of walls and the front of buildings.

Any cruciferous plant of the genus Matthiola; as, common stock (Matthiola incana) (see Gilly-flower); ten-weeks stock (M. annua).

An irregular metalliferous mass filling a large cavity in a rock formation, as a stock of lead ore deposited in limestone.

A race or variety in a species.

In tectology, an aggregate or colony of persons (see Person), as trees, chains of salpæ, etc.

The beater of a fulling mill.

A liquid or jelly containing the juices and soluble parts of meat, and certain vegetables, etc., extracted by cooking; - used in making soup, gravy, etc.

Raw material; that out of which something is manufactured; as, paper stock.

A plain soap which is made into toilet soap by adding perfumery, coloring matter, etc.

To lay up; to put aside for future use; to store, as merchandise, and the like.

To provide with material requisites; to store; to fill; to supply; as, to stock a warehouse, that is, to fill it with goods; to stock a farm, that is, to supply it with cattle and tools; to stock land, that is, to occupy it with a permanent growth, especially of grass.

To suffer to retain milk for twenty-four hours or more previous to sale, as cows.

To put in the stocks.

Used or employed for constant service or application, as if constituting a portion of a stock or supply; standard; permanent; standing; as, a stock actor; a stock play; a stock phrase; a stock response; a stock sermon.

The capital raised by a corporation through the issue of shares entitling holders to an ownership interest (equity);

Liquid in which meat and vegetables are simmered; used as a basis for e.g. soups or sauces;

The merchandise that a shop has on hand;

A supply of something available for future use;

Not used technically; any animals kept for use or profit

The descendants of one individual;

The handle of a handgun or the butt end of a rifle or shotgun or part of the support of a machine gun or artillery gun;

The reputation and popularity a person has;

A special variety of domesticated animals within a species;

Lumber used in the construction of something;

A certificate documenting the shareholder's ownership in the corporation;

Any of various ornamental flowering plants of the genus Malcolmia

A plant or stem onto which a graft is made; especially a plant grown specifically to provide the root part of grafted plants

Any of several Old World plants cultivated for their brightly colored flowers

The handle end of some implements or tools;

Persistent thickened stem of a herbaceous perennial plant

An ornamental white cravat

Have on hand;

Equip with a stock;

Supply with fish;

Supply with livestock;

Stock up on to keep for future use or sale;

Provide or furnish with a stock of something;

Put forth and grow sprouts or shoots;

Repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse;

Routine;

Regularly and widely used or sold;

A quantity of resources or assets at a specific time.

A fixed measurement at a particular point.

Static and not time-dependent.

Income is flow, as it represents earnings over a period.

Inventory is stock, representing available goods at a specific time.

No, stock changes due to inflows and outflows, which are flows.

Stock refers to a quantity measured at a specific point in time.

No, stock is static; it changes due to dynamic flows.

Flow measures the rate of change over a period of time.

Stock is measured as a static quantity at a particular moment.

Flow is measured over intervals, indicating rates of change.

Savings account balance is stock, measured at a specific time.

Water in a tank is stock, representing the quantity at a specific time.

Yes, continuous flow changes the stock level over time.

Stock levels are affected by inflows and outflows.

Yes, a business manages stock (assets) and flow (revenue).

Water entering a tank is flow, indicating the rate of inflow.

Interest earned is flow, representing earnings over time.