7. How to Invest

b. Comparing stocks and understanding a stock table (continued)

Stock tables summarizing the previous day’s trading activity are published daily in newspapers or can be found online. There is a table for each of the exchanges, as well as transactions on a number of other financial markets. A substantial amount of information is packed into the fine print of these stock tables.

There are some differences in the way a stock table is laid out in the different media. Some of the terms are:

• Stock is the name of the stock.
• Sym is the ticker symbol. 
• Close is the closing price of the day.
• Net Chg shows the increase or decrease in the price for the day.
• Day’s range shows the lowest and highest trading price of the day.
• 52 Week range shows the lowest and the highest closing prices of the year.
• P/E is an abbreviation for “price-to-earnings ratio.”  This number is the price per share of a stock divided by the company’s annual earnings per share.  Although this lesson will not discuss P/E ratios in great detail, this is one of the tools investors use to determine if the stock is cheap or expensive.
• Div is the dollar amount paid out in dividends per share of stock. Dividends are a way for the company to distribute a portion of the earnings of the company to its investors. 
• Yield is the percent of dividends or interest paid divided by the stock price. 
• Volume is the number of shares that were bought and sold in the previous day’s session at the stock exchange.

Example of Stock Table: 
 

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