How to Read the
Stock Market Page
52 Week High/Low
 Highest and lowest price a share of the
stock has sold for in the past 52 weeks.
 Example ABC: High was 49
 Example ABC: Low was 39
Stock
 Varies by Newspaper
 Either company abbreviation
or ticker symbol
 In A-Z order
Div
 Annual Dividend per Share of
Stock
 Based on the rate of the Last
Quarterly Payout
 Annualized Data
 Example ABC: $1.30 per share
 Example: XYZ: $0 per share
Yield Percentage
 Known as Dividend Yield
 A Measure of the Income Produced
by the Stock
 Is the Amount of the Dividend
divided by the Price of the Stock
Yield Percentage
 Achieved by Dividing the Annual
Dividend by the Day’s Closing Price
 Example: ABC 1.30/40 = .0325
or as a percentage: 3.25%
P/E Ratio
 PRICE- EARNINGS RATIO
– Ratio: latest closing price
of the stock to the latest available
annual earnings per share of the firm
– Trailing P/E: is what is reported in the
financial section of newspapers
– Forward P/E: based on forecasting net
year’s future expected earnings
P/E Ratio
 Example: ABC – 20 P/E Ratio
– Indicates that ABC is selling for 20 times
the company’s earnings
Example: XYZ – P/E Ratio is 62
– Indicates that XYZ is selling for
62 times the company’s earnings
Sales 100s
 This represents the volume of transactions
on the trading day
 Bought or Sold
 Presented in hundreds, simply multiple by
100
Example: ABC – 3314
Indicates that 331,400 shares traded
High/Lows
 This represents the highest and
lowest selling price of the stock
for the day.

Example: ABC – high of 40
low of 39
Close
 This represents the price of the last stock
sold for the day

Example: ABC – closed at 40
Net Change
 This lists the net change between
the closing price for the stock for
the day and the closing price on the
previous trading day

Example: BBA: Today’s Close: 76
Net Change: + 1
Previous Day: 75
Earnings per Share
 A means of valuing common stock.
 Part of a firm’s profit that is
allocated to each outstanding
share of common stock.
 Can be a good indicator of fiscal health
Earnings per Share
 Many investors carefully watch
this number
 In general, higher earnings per share
means better dividend and overall
stock performance.
Earnings per Share
 Calculated by dividing the
closing price on the day being
consider by the P/E ratio.
Example:
Today’s Close
40.00
P/E Ratio
20
Earnings per Share:
ABC – $2.00