leader

A stock or group of stocks that is the first to move in a market upsurge or downturn. Bloomberg Financial Dictionary

* * *

leader lead‧er [ˈliːdə ǁ -ər] noun [countable]

1. the person who directs or controls a team, organization, country etc:

• He was accompanied on the trip by the chairmen of the three major US-auto makers and 18 other business leaders.

2. MARKETING a product, service, or company that is the most important or successful of its type

ˈbrand ˌleader MARKETING

the brand with the most sales in a particular market:

• The company has the brand leader in sales of both whisky and gin.

ˈcategory ˌleader MARKETING

the company that sells the most of a particular kind of product:

• We believe that the company is well-positioned to become the category leader.

ˈcost ˌleader MARKETING

the company, product etc with the lowest costs in its industry or market compared with its competitors:

• The problem in wanting to become the cost leader is that you may produce the cheapest typewriters, but everyone is moving to PCs.

ˈindustry ˌleader MARKETING

1. a company that is important in a particular industry because it has the highest level of sales, the best products etc:

• We are now a mature company and an industry leader.

2. a person who is very important in an industry or in business:

• Industry leaders said the revised proposal would do little to soften the economic blow to the Northwest.

ˈmarket ˌleader MARKETING

the company, product, or service with more sales than any other company, product etc in its market:

• The company is the US market leader in petfood.

ˈprice ˌleader MARKETING

the competitor that is usually the first in its market to increase or reduce its prices, with other competitors following:

• The bank will be in a strong position to be a price leader on loans.

— see also loss leader

* * *

leader UK US /ˈliːdə^r/ noun [C]

► a company, product, etc. that has higher sales than its competitors: »

The brand is market leader in France, where it has a 49% market share.

→ Compare FOLLOWER(Cf. ↑follower)

► a person who is in charge of a group, country, situation, etc.: »

Union leaders said they expect up to 40,000 of the 47,000 workers at the plant to stop work.

»

Business leaders claim that the area has one of the fastest growing local economies in the country.

local/state/world leaders »

State and local leaders were on hand to discuss the crisis.

→ See also BRAND LEADER(Cf. ↑brand leader), CATEGORY LEADER(Cf. ↑category leader), COST LEADER(Cf. ↑cost leader), INDUSTRY LEADER(Cf. ↑industry leader), LOSS LEADER(Cf. ↑loss leader), MARKET LEADER(Cf. ↑market leader), PRICE LEADER(Cf. ↑price leader)