Stock Prices and Quotes
In glancing through the stock prices listed
in the newspaper one might wonder how stocks are priced and what affects
price movement. After all, there is a wide variety of prices and some
well-known companies are traded for relatively low prices while obscure
listings may sell at high prices.
To a certain extent stock prices are determined
by investor confidence but that confidence in turn is based on real
or perceived performance. Companies report their financial status on
a quarterly basis when they disclose cash flow, sales and earnings.
These hard numbers are the foundation of a company's worth, but investor
speculation can undermine or override actual financial data.
Rumours abound on the stock market, and
if there is news that a company is about to make a strategic move buyers
may flock to buy that stock. As with any other market, the principal
of supply and demand applies. If there is a sudden upsurge in investor
interest, the price of a stock will rise accordingly. Conversely, fear
among investors can cause a stock price to plummet. In the long run,
however, company performance and worth are the biggest factors in determining
stock prices.
Stock prices are available from many sources.
Newspapers carry market summaries of the day's movements and online
sources can provide current prices around the clock. Stock brokers can
also provide quotes – either online or by telephone in the case
of full-service brokers.
A stock quote table in a newspaper or
Internet web site is full of useful information that can help the investor
make decisions about buying or selling stocks. Being able to read a
stock table is a necessary skill for anyone interested in the stock
market.
A typical table looks something like this:
Latest Change |
52 Weeks |
| Symbol |
Price |
Net |
% |
Time |
High |
Low |
Volume |
High |
Low |
| BCE |
31.150 |
-0.480 |
-1.52 |
16:57 |
31.750 |
31.110 |
3,643,000 |
33.000 |
27.150 |
| BGM |
17.060 |
-0.280 |
-1.61 |
15:54 |
17.300 |
17.040 |
207,400 |
26.850 |
17.110 |
| IBM |
79.820 |
-0.290 |
-0.36 |
16:01 |
80.680 |
79.560 |
4,999,200 |
99.100 |
71.850 |
| MSFT |
24.670 |
-0.310 |
-1.24 |
16:00 |
25.050 |
24.670 |
73,696,700 |
27.940 |
23.820 |
The first column tells you the name of
the company by its ticker symbol – a 3 or 4 character abbreviation.
BCE is Bell Canada Enterprises and MSFT is Microsoft. Ticker symbols
can be looked up on the Internet.
The latest price is the price at the time
of publication of the table. In newspapers this would generally be the
day's closing price, but Internet tables may be updated every few minutes.
Publicly viewable stock prices on the Internet usually have a lag of
15 or 20 minutes.
Change is the difference between the previous
day's closing price and the current quote. Time shows the time of the
last transaction. High, Low, and Volume all refer to the current (or
last) trading day. High is the highest price the stock sold for, Low
is the lowest price, and Volume is the number of shares that have been
traded. Finally the 52 week High and Low shows you the highest and lowest
prices in the previous year.
There may be additional columns for information
about Bid Price (the price a buyer is willing to pay), Ask Price (the
price a seller is willing to sell), Price/Earnings ratio (P/E –
the stock price divided by the earnings per share), Market Cap (outstanding
shares multiplied by current market price), and Dividends Per Share
(the current annual dividend the company pays).
< Back to Your Guide To Stock Trading
|
