When you’re first learning about the stock market, the stock tables in the paper can be quite confusing. Learning how to read stocks won’t take much time, though, and it’s very important.
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.
The next column is the name of the stock itself, followed by another column showing the stock’s ticker symbol. Every stock is given a unique combination of letters. Perhaps you’ll even recognize a few (or more than a few) of these tickers. They periodically run across the bottom of the screen of cable news networks.
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.
“Div” is the column that comes after the ticker column. From this column, you see how much in annual dividends the stock pays out for every share. You’ll know the stock doesn’t pay out dividends if this particular column is blank. The percentage return on the dividend shows up in the “Yield %” column, though it too will be blank if the stock doesn’t pay out dividends.
P/E is the price to earnings ratio, which is calculated by taking the stock prices and dividing it by the the earnings per share over the last four quarters.
“High” and “Low” are the next two columns. You’ll be able to see the lowest and highest point the stock has reached in the day’s trading. “Net Change” shows the change from the day before; “Close” tells you the point when the stock closed for the day.
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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