How To Read Stocks And Actually Understand Them
Reading the stock tables in the newspaper can be very confusing when you’re just learning about the stock market. It’s important to learn how to read stocks, though, and it won’t take a lot of time.
There are twelve columns in the table, and you’ll notice that each stock has its own line in this table. To find out how the stock has been performing over the past year, look at the first two columns– these will be labeled something to the effect of “52W High” and “52W Low.” You’ll see the highest point the stock has achieved in the last 52 weeks in the “52W High” column. Its lowest value will be in the “52W Low” column.
In the following column you’ll see the actual name of the stock. This will be followed by another column that shows the stock’s ticker symbol. There’s a unique combination of letters for each stock. In fact, you might be able to recognize some of them. Maybe you’ve seen the tickers running across the bottom of the screen when you watch the news.
Speaking of TV, you might want to watch the financial shows. They can give you a lot of help and information that will show you how to read stocks and understand the stock market even better.
There’s another column next to the ticker column, and it’s labeled “Div.” This column shows you the annual dividend the stock pays out for each share. If you see a blank space in this column, that means the stock doesn’t pay dividends right now. The same rule also applies to the very next column, “Yield %”, the percentage return on the dividend.
The earnings ratio is indicated by P/E. You get this number by dividing the current stock price by the earnings per share for the last four quarters.
The next two columns are “High” and “Low.” In the day’s trading, you’ll be able to see the highest and lowest points that the stock has reached. “Close” is the point at which the stock closed that day, and “Net Change” shows the change from the day before.
Once you’re armed with a good working knowledge of how to read stocks, you can begin to delve into other aspects of the market.
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