| The daily press, together with a whole host of | | | | Price highs & lows: The next bit of information is |
| websites carry prices and other basic information | | | | the closing prices of the shares highs and lows. This |
| about stocks and shares. On their own and | | | | might be for the calendar year to date or for the |
| collectively they offer valuable pointers about how | | | | previous 52 week period. If you factor this in to your |
| the company is performing, how it s viewed by the | | | | share trading criteria then make sure you determine |
| market and what its future prospects are. Whichever | | | | which period the data covers so you properly assess |
| financial website or newspaper you choose, the | | | | where the current price sits in the trading range. |
| format the information is shown in is fairly typical and | | | | Remember this is quite a crude indicator because if |
| is explained below. | | | | price movements is one of your key factors then |
| The name: First of all, the company name is given or | | | | charting or technical analysis is likely to be more |
| an abbreviated version if there is insufficient room. | | | | appropriate. |
| The stock will be quoted with its peers either by | | | | Market Capitalisation: The market capitalisation is the |
| sector e.g. banking if it is a comprehensive list of | | | | stock markets value of the company and is |
| shares or by indices e.g. FTSE 100 if only quotes for | | | | calculated by multiplying the number of shares in issue |
| the top companies are provided. Being listed with the | | | | by the current market price. Depending on price |
| same type of companies means you can compare its | | | | volatility the value of the company can vary |
| performance to that of similar organisations and lets | | | | considerably from day to day. The capitalisation will |
| you select stocks by sector or size. | | | | be quoted in millions. |
| The price: The share price is the price at the close of | | | | Dividend Yield: The dividend yield will be quoted gross |
| the previous trading session and is quoted in pence. | | | | and will be calculated by taking the gross dividend |
| This is the mid-price and not the price at which the | | | | paid by the company and dividing it by the current |
| share could be bought or sold and there will always | | | | share price. Both are in pence and the yield is |
| be a margin between the two. For illiquid stocks and | | | | expressed as a percentage. |
| or smaller companies, the actual buy/sell prices could | | | | Price / Earnings ratio: Known as the p/e ratio and is |
| be a significant percentage away from the mid-price. | | | | perhaps the most important share price ratio for |
| Price Movement: The movement in pence is given as | | | | comparing shares (ideally in the same sectors) and will |
| the difference between the closing price in the | | | | be discussed in detail in a later article. It is calculated |
| previous column and the prior days closing price. | | | | by taking the share price and dividing it by the |
| Alternatively, if the share price is in a weekend | | | | company's earnings per share. The calculation of |
| newspaper, the movement is likely to represent the | | | | earnings can vary but is usually profits after taxation. |
| price change over the previous week. | | | | |