Basics Of Stock Market
|
Financial markets provide their participants with the most favorable conditions for purchase/sale of financial instruments they have inside. Their major functions are: guaranteeing liquidity, forming assets prices within establishing proposition and demand and decreasing of operational expenses, incurred by the participants of the market.
Financial market comprises variety of instruments, hence its functioning totally depends on instruments held. Usually it can be classified according to the type of financial instruments and according to the terms of instruments' paying-off.
From the point of different types of instruments held the market can be divided into the one of promissory notes and the one of securities (stock market). The first one contains promissory instruments with the right for its owners to get some fixed amount of money in future and is called themarket of promissory notes, while the latter binds the issuer to pay a certain amount of money according to the return received after paying-off all the promissory notes and is called stock market. There are also types of securities referring to both categories as, e.g., preference shares and converted bonds. They are also called the instruments with fixed return.
Another classification is due to paying-off terms of instruments. These are: market of assets with high liquidity (money market) and market of capital. The first one refers to the market of short-term promissory notes with assets age up to 12 months. The second one refers to the market of long-term promissory notes with instruments age surpasses 12 months. This classification can be referred to the bond market only as its instruments have fixed expiry date, while the stock market's not.
Now we are turning to the stock market.
As it was mentioned before, ordinary shares' purchasers typically invest their funds into the company-issuer and become its owners. Their weight in the process of making decisions in the company depends on the number of shares he/she possesses. Due to the financial experience of the company, its part in the market and future potential shares can be divided into several groups.
1. Blue Chips
Shares of large companies with a long record of profit growth, annual return over $4 billion, large capitalization and constancy in paying-off dividends are referred to as blue chips.
2. Growth Stocks
Shares of such company grow faster; its managers typically pursue the policy of reinvestment of revenue into further development and modernization of the company. These companies rarely pay dividends and in case they do the dividends are minimal as compared with other companies.
3. Income Stocks
Income stocks are the stocks of companies with high and stable earnings that pay high dividends to the shareholders. The shares of such companies usually use mutual funds in the plans for middle-aged and elderly people.
4. Defensive Stocks
These are the stocks whose prices stay stable when the market declines, do well during recessions and are able to minimize risks. They perform perfect when the market turns sour and are in requisition during economic boom.
These categories are widely spread in mutual funds, thus for better understanding investment process it is useful to keep in mind this division.
Shares can be issued both within the country and abroad. In case a company wants to issue its shares abroad it can use American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). ADRs are usually issued by the American banks and point at shareholders' right to possess the shares of a foreign company under the asset management of a bank. Each ADR signals of one or more shares possession.
When operating with shares, aside of purchase/sale ratio profits, you can also quarterly receive dividends. They depend on: type of share, financial state of the company, shares category etc.
Ordinary shares do not guarantee paying-off dividends. Dividends of a company depend on its profitability and spare cash. Dividends differ from each other as they are to be paid in a different period of time, with the possibility of being higher as well as lower. There are periods when companies do not pay dividends at all, mostly when a company is in a financial distress or in case executives decide to reinvest income into the development of the business. While calculating acceptable share price, dividends are the key factor.
Price of ordinary share is determined by three main factors: annual dividends rate, dividends growth rate and discount rate. The latter is also called a required income rate. The company with the high risks level is expected to have high required income rate. The higher cash flow the higher share prices and versus. This interdependence determines assets value. Below we will touch upon the division of share prices estimating in three possible cases with regard to dividends.
While purchasing shares, aside of risks and dividends analysis, it is absolutely important to examine company carefully as for its profit/loss accounting, balance, cash flows, distribution of profits between its shareholders, managers' and executives' wages etc. Only when you are sure of all the ins and outs of a company, you can easily buy or sell shares. If you are not confident of the information, it is more advisable not to hold shares for a long time (especially before financial accounting published).
Dr. Goldfinger
http://www.financegaes.com
This article can be reprinted for free. To reprint this article, please, include the following code:FinanceGates: free financial advice.
Educational articles, financial news and reviews on investing, personal finance, stocks, funds.
|
|
|
Stock Chart Reading
As an investor you will want to checkout any equity before you buy it. Many investorsgo to Morningstar which is one of the largestproviders of mutual fund information in the world.It is assumed that their information is correct.After all that is what you are paying for.Recently the SEC (Securities andExchange Commission) called them on the carpet fornot correcting an error within a reasonable time(whatever that is according to the SEC). Everyonemakes errors and this was no big deal.It seems that when you went to theirsite and drew up a chart or asked for statisticson Rock Canyon Top Flight mutual fund it failed tonotify the potential buyer that the fund hadissued a very large dividend of approximately 25%and the NAV (Net Asset Value) dropped from $15 to$11 to reflect the $4.00 dividend.When you ask...(related: Stocks)
You Wont Like This
Why? Because I am going to shatter your conventional wisdom as I have many times in previous columns about the lies that Wall Street continues to tell you. This time we are going to go deeper into the economy to unearth the truth about lies the politicians are telling you.Let's understand from the beginning that few politicians understand basic economics. Just ...(related: Stocks)
I Love To Lose Money
Well, not really. What I mean is I don't mind losing a small amount when I have to sell a stock or mutual fund that is going down or taking away the profit I have made. Duri...(related: Stocks)
Wall Street Paradigm
In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in Switzerland discovered that a small crystal would vibrate at a constant rate. He found this was so accurate that it could be used to calibrate time so he took it to company management and said it would make an entirely new kind of watch that had no springs and no gears. They could not imagine who would want such a thing. Swiss watches dominated world commerce. They did not even bother to patent it.The inventor took his new idea to a commercial trade show, set up his booth and tried to interest manufacturers to produce his new kind of watch. Of the thousand people only 2 were willing to try it ? Texas Instruments and Seiko C...(related: Stocks)
Analysts - Do They Really Know The Stock Market?
When you become interested in a stockor mutual fund you can call your broker and hewill send you reports on how the company is doing,what their management is like and what might bethe projected earnings for the company and how theindustry is doing. Great information.You will apply yourself to this moundof papers to determine if you want to buy theequity. You might also send for more reports fromindependent analysts such as Morningstar. You willbecome buried in pap...(related: Stocks)
Stock Market Investing Odds
The greatest stock market myth is the idea that investing in stocks is a form of gambling!The financial markets are often compared to a casino. Put some money on X stock and you might as well be playing craps!If that's your impression, and it's keeping you out of the markets, consider this:If investing is organized gambling, it's one of the rare kinds where the odds are stacked in your favor!Why is that?Corporate profits are the key to understanding the investor's edge. By buying a share of stock gives its holder an ownership claim on that company's earnings. If those earnings go up, then the stock price will usually rise as well. Makes sense, doesn't it? Ownership of a company that has higher earnings should be worth more than ownership of a company that earns less.An investment in th...(related: Stocks)
Selling Strategies - Setting A Stop Loss
Sometimes the best way of lowering exposure to risk is not to invest at all! However, when we make the decision to jump into the muddy waters of the stock market, its always a good idea to have a life jacket ready, just in case.We all have stories of that "must have" "can't lose" stock that looking back, we didn't really need to buy, and it definitely lost. So, how to best protect yourself when the markets disagree with your due diligence? Trailing stop loss.Its important to understand the psychology of investing. When we make money, there is instant euphoria. When we start to lose money, there is a sudden "deer caught in the headlights" type of emotion, which makes us unable...(related: Stocks)
Momentum
One of the basic laws of physics states that a body in motion will continue in motion in the direction it is going until interrupted by another force.That basic physics law also applies to stocks and mutual funds. To see this trend it will be very apparent in a weekly or monthly chart rather than a daily chart. The daily chart shows too much noise (random movement).In the Friday edition of Investor's Business Daily you will find 37 weekly charts on the back page of Section 2. One of the common occurrences among these issues is the steady upward progression of price, many with an angle of 30 degrees or more. The up movement of price may have been going on for many months. This...(related: Stocks)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved. | Stocks