How To Read a Stock Quote
Learn how to evaluate stocks at a glance
A stock quote is often an investor’s “first stop” to quickly check a prospective stock’s price, trading range, dividend, and P/E ratio.
There are many different versions of stock quotes that provide a wide range of information. Since most investors use Google for their stock lookups, I thought I’d use their simple stock quote as an example.
Let’s expand on each of the key items above in more detail:
Company Name
This provides the full name of the publicly-traded entity.
Stock Exchange
This shows which exchange the stock is trading on (such as the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange). This usually doesn’t matter much, unless it’s trading on over-the-counter (OTC) markets, which are often highly speculative.
Stock Ticker/Symbol
This is the shorthand symbol used to identify the stock when looking it up for research or purchase. For stocks the symbol is usually 1–4 letters long, although it can be longer.
Current Price
This is the most recent price available. If markets are currently open, this price will be either real-time or delayed by 15…
