General Meeting - 3/26/08

Stock Terms, Charts, and General Information

Terms Listed in the Stock Quotes

P/E Ratio: company’s current share price compared to a per share earning

EPS is usually from the last 4 quarters, but sometimes it can be estimates for the next 4 quarters.
High P/E means that investors are expecting higher earnings growth in the future, so
high = good!
However, decisions should not solely based on P/E.
More useful to compare companies of the same industry. Growth will be similar.

EPS: earnings per share; the company’s net profit divided by the number of common shares outstanding

Volume: how many shares sold that day

Avg. Volume: how many shares are usually sold per day

Dividend: portion of the company’s earnings paid to its shareholders in the form of money

Yield: portion of the company’s earnings paid to its shareholders in the form of shares

Ask Price (Offer Price): the lowest price that a seller is willing to accept for a security

Bid Price: the highest price that the buyer is willing to pay

After Hours: means that activity is going on after the market closes at 4:00 EST


Other Important Stock Terms

Common Stock: majority of stock held by the public. It has voting rights and the right to a share in the dividend.

Preferred Stock: fewer rights than the common stock, companies that issue preferred stock usually pay consistent dividends, and they get first call on dividends over common stock.

Beta: A measure of the expected change of a stock’s or portfolio’s return relative to that of the market. The beta of a benchmark index is 1.00.

Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF): An instrument that provides exposure to an index and is traded on a stock exchange; offer investors a low-cost, liquid means to invest in indices.

Growth Stock: A company that is expected to generate above-average revenue and earnings growth relative to its industry or the overall market.

Value Stock: A stock that is underpriced by the market relative to its long-term fundamentals, such as dividends, earnings, and sales.


Next Week's Meeting:
- Look up some small cap stocks for us to possibly invest in
- Elections! Anyone who wants to run can. Positions available are: President, Portfolio Manager, Publicity Chair, Secretary, Treasurer.
- We will look through some Journal articles and pick out terms we don't know.