投股权，还是投债权？ Invest in equity or debt?

股和债到底有什么区别？投资一家公司，投股权，还是投债权？需要对外融资，是股权融资，还是债权融资？

What is the difference between stocks and debt?Investing in a company, investing in equity or debt? Need external financing, is it equity financing or debt financing?

所谓股权，是股票持有者所具有的与其拥有的股票比例相应的权益及承担一定责任的权力。

The so-called equity refers to the rights of the stock holders corresponding to the proportion of the stocks they own and the right to assume certain responsibilities.

所谓债权，是按照合同约定或者依照法律的规定，在当事人之间产生的特定的债权关系或者债的关系。

The so-called creditor's rights refer to the specific creditor's rights or debt relationship that arises between the parties in accordance with the contract or in accordance with the provisions of the law.

追索权和风险是不一样 There is a difference between recourse and risk

不管是股权还是债权，它代表的都是金融追索权，也就是说你对这个公司盈利所索取的权利。

Whether it is equity or debt, it represents financial recourse, that is, the right you claim against the company's profit.

不同的是，股权你所拥有的是“剩余追索权”，也就是公司要扣除所有的成本，包括利息，剩下的部分才会给你分红,而且这种分红是不具备强制力的。

The difference is that the stock you have is "residual recourse", that is, the company has to deduct all costs, including interest, and the remaining part will give you dividends, and this kind of dividend is not mandatory.

所以为了补偿你，公司就给你投票权，保证你可以参与公司的经营决策。当然你也知道，在现实中，小股东的投票权并没有实质性的意义。

So in order to compensate you, the company will give you the right to vote to ensure that you can participate in the company's business decisions. Of course, you also know that in reality, the voting rights of minority shareholders have no substantive significance.

那么从另外一个维度看，与股权的“剩余追索权”是不一样的，债权具有的是“优先追索权”。

From another perspective,it is different from the "residual recourse" of equity, and the claim has "priority recourse."

不管企业经营好坏，它必须按时按点地付给你承诺的利息，所以这种收益是固定的。而如果企业面临破产的时候，债权人可以根据债权的等级，首先要求清偿。因为这种确定性的回报，所以债权的收益率会比较平缓。

Regardless of whether the business is good or bad, it must pay you the promised interest on time and on time, so this kind of income is fixed. And if the enterprise is facing bankruptcy, the creditor can first demand repayment according to the grade of the creditor's rights. Because of this deterministic return, the yield on the debt will be relatively flat.

因为有这些特性，所以一般认为，和股票相比，债权是比较“低风险、低收益”的投资，进而这种风险和收益的结构也会反映在股票投资者和债权投资者的心态上。

Because of these characteristics, it is generally believed that, compared with stocks, debt is a relatively "low-risk, low-yield" investment, and the structure of this risk and return will also be reflected in the mentality of stock investors and debt investors.

当你作为股权投资者的时候，你就更关心公司经营发展的上限，而债权投资者则更注重公司经营的稳定性。

When you are an equity investor, you are more concerned about the upper limit of the company's business development, while debt investors pay more attention to the stability of the company's operations.

这个风险和收益的对比是对于同一个公司而言的，比如说你要用茅台的股票和恒大的债券去作比较，这就没有可比性。

This comparison of risk and return is for the same company. For example, if you want to compare Moutai stocks and Evergrande bonds, there is no comparability.

股东和债权人的权利完全不一样 The rights of shareholders and creditors are completely different

股东和自己是拴在一根绳上的蚂蚱，分享的是上行的利益，分担的是下行的风险。而债权人不一样，他跟你不一定是同心同德的，他有时候可能会加重下行的风险。

Shareholders and themselves are grasshoppers tied to a rope, sharing upside benefits and downside risks. The creditor is different. He and you are not necessarily of the same mind. Sometimes he may increase the downside risk.

所以，融资者要在选择股权还是债权融资的时候，心态是截然不同的。

Therefore, when financiers choose equity or debt financing, their mentality is completely different.

一般来说，假设这个融资人，他的手里的项目业绩非常地稳定，盈利很好。那么从融资者的角度来讲，自然不希望有人来多分自己一瓢羹，所以进行债权融资的意愿就会更高。反之，一个项目虽然前景很美好，但是可能道路坎坷，不确定性非常大。这个时候，融资者就一定要尽量避免被沉重的利息压倒，也会尽量地选择股权融资。

Generally speaking, suppose that this financier has very stable project performance and very profitable. So from the perspective of financiers, naturally, they don’t want someone to share more of themselves, so the willingness to carry out debt financing will be higher. On the contrary, although a project has a bright prospect, the road may be bumpy and the uncertainty is very large. At this time, financiers must try to avoid being overwhelmed by heavy interest, and will try to choose equity financing as much as possible.

所以，据我们的观察，很少初创企业会去选择债权融资。而且像生物医药、高科技这些现金流不那么稳定的行业，企业的负债率也是普遍比较低的。反之，像公用事业这些现金流很稳定，上行空间也不大的行业，往往会更多地使用债权融资。

Therefore, according to our observation,very few start-ups will choose debt financing.Moreover, in industries where cash flow is not so stable, such as biomedicine and high-tech, the debt ratio of enterprises is generally relatively low. Conversely,industries with stable cash flow and low upside potential, such as utilities, tend to use debt financing more often.

很多时候，融资者和投资者中间也存在着博弈关系。比如说一个有限责任公司陷入了财务困境，可能要破产。现在他们有一个高风险的项目，赢了就可能起死回生，输了大不了还是破产，反正是“有限责任”，股东的个人财产和公司财产中间是有防火墙的。在这种情况下，公司就可能更加倾向于高风险的投资。

In many cases, there is also a game relationship between financiers and investors. For example, a limited liability company is in financial trouble and may go bankrupt. Now they have a high-risk project. If they win, they may come back to life. If they lose, they will go bankrupt. Anyway, it is "limited liability". There is a firewall between the personal property of shareholders and the property of the company. In this case, the company may be more inclined to high-risk investments.

所以，我们也会经常发现，极高的负债率和高风险的投资往往是相连在一块儿的。

Therefore, we will often find that extremely high debt ratios and high-risk investments are often linked together.

股和债之间的联系 The link between stocks and debt

金融市场就是一个关于各种“债务关系”的市场，在这个市场上，抽象的、虚拟的债务关系被具象成了各种价格和数字来进行交易。

The financial market is a market for various "debt relations". In this market, abstract and virtual debt relations are embodied into various prices and numbers for trading.

股票也好，证券也好，这些金融证券，它就是一张纸，在电子化时代，甚至是计算机储存的一个代码。那么我们所交易的是这张纸或者这个代码吗？不是的，我们所交易的是这张纸或者这个代码所代表的权利和义务，而这些权利和义务其实就是可以被量化的责任。

Whether stocks or securities, these financial securities are just a piece of paper, even a code stored in a computer in the electronic age. So are we trading this paper or this code? No,what we are trading is the rights and obligations represented by this piece of paper or this code, and these rights and obligations are actually quantifiable responsibilities.

广义上，债就是可以被货币化和量化的责任，所以所有的金融活动都可以理解成为“借贷”行为，只是它牵涉到的责权利不一样。从本质上看，你可以把股也理解成一种“债务关系”，只是这种债务关系非常地特殊，它包含着所有权和经营权。换一句话说，在股这个特殊的债务关系中，“债权”变成了“产权”。

In a broad sense, debt is a responsibility that can be monetized and quantified, so all financial activities can be understood as "borrowing" behavior, but it involves different responsibilities and rights. In essence, you can also understand stocks as a kind of "debt relationship", but this debt relationship is very special, and it contains ownership and management rights. In other words,in the special debt relationship of stocks, "credit rights" have become "property rights."

We have explained the difference and connection between stocks and bonds from the perspectives of investors and financiers. From the perspective of investors, the recourse and risk of equity and debt are different. Equity investors are more concerned about the upper limit of the company's development, and debt investors are more concerned about the lower limit of the company. From the perspective of financiers, science and technology companies are more inclined to equity financing, and public utility companies are more inclined to debt financing.