Stocks are a key part of many investment portfolios, but they can be hard to understand. Whether you call them shares, stocks, equity, or something else entirely, they’re the piece of ownership in a company that allows you to join in its success as it grows and prospers. Understanding how stocks work can help you make smart decisions about your own investing plans.
When a business is ready to grow, it needs money to pay for things like designing new products and expanding into new markets. To raise this cash, it issues shares of stock on a public exchange such as the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange. Investors then buy these shares and earn profits as the company’s earnings and asset values increase over time.
A well-rounded investment strategy should include stocks because they provide the potential for higher returns than other investments, including cash and bonds. However, the high growth that stocks can offer comes with the risk of greater losses. So it’s important to keep your risk tolerance in mind and build a portfolio that’s right for you.
Despite their volatile price movement, stocks are an important way to diversify your investing portfolio because they give you the chance to own a piece of real businesses. But don’t think owning stocks gives you any special rights to the company — owning stock doesn’t guarantee you a parking spot in the company lot or a desk at the headquarters. It does, however, give you a claim on the company’s assets and earnings.
As a general rule, a stock’s value rises when the company’s earnings and future prospects improve. This can be a sign that the company is doing well and becoming more desirable, or that its products are being used by more people. This kind of growth is one reason why companies issue stock in the first place – to generate cash that can be used for debt payments, growing operations, or distributing profits among shareholders.
It’s also important to remember that, even though a company’s earnings might be on the upswing, it may not always be in a position to distribute any of that wealth to investors. Generally, a company must pay its employees, suppliers, creditors, and utilities before it can distribute any of its profits to its shareholders.
There are a number of different ways to classify stocks, but the most common is by the size of the company, as shown by its market capitalization. There are large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks, with the lowest priced companies sometimes referred to as penny stocks. This classification can help analysts and investors focus on the most promising opportunities while avoiding those that have less potential for long-term gains. Investors can also divide stocks based on their geographic market, such as U.S., developed international, and emerging markets.