Knowing when to buy and when to sell

Getting used to the format of stock quotes is part of the battle when it comes to stock investing. At first, stock quotes look like so much gobbledy-gook. However, with a little help from Motley Fool, you can understand the basics:

BUKBUK — SCRUFFY’S CHICKEN SHACK (This is the company’s ticker symbol and name.)
Exchange: NYSE (Scruffy’s trades on the New York Stock Exchange.)
Delay: At least 20 minutes (This information is at least 20 minutes old.)
Last Price: 35.21 at 12:24 EDT (This is the last recorded price Scruffy’s shares traded at.)
Change: Down 0.27 (-0.76%) (The last price is 27 cents, or 0.76%, lower than the previous closing price.)
High: 39.60 at 9:49 EDT (The high price so far today has been $39.60 per share.)
Low: 35.02 at 10:38 EDT (The low price so far today has been $35.02 per share.)
Open: 35.60 (The shares began trading at $35.60 each today.)
Previous Close: 35.48 on 9/26 (The stock last traded at $35.48 in the last trading session.)
Volume: 6,385,400 (So far, 6,385,400 shares have changed hands today.)
30-Day Avg. Volume: 24,871,000 (Over the past month, an average of 24.9 million shares of Scruffy’s traded daily.)
Shares Outstanding: 9,934,846,000 (Scruffy’s has 9.9 billion shares "outstanding," or in existence.)
Market Cap: 349,805,927,660 (Scruffy’s market capitalization — shares outstanding times current share price – is $350 billion.)
52-Week High: 59.93 (In the past year, the highest Scruffy’s stock has traded has been $59.93.)
52-Week Low: 28.50 (In the past year, Scruffy’s lowest stock price has been $28.50.)
Beta: 1.18 (This means that Scruffy’s stock is 1.18 times more volatile than the overall market.)
Yield: 1.80% (Scruffy’s current dividend yield — the annual dividend divided by the current stock price – is 1.80%.)
P/E Ratio: 25.70 (Scruffy’s stock price divided by its trailing-12-month earnings per share is 25.70.)
EPS: 1.37 (Scruffy’s earnings per share over the past year have totaled $1.37.)
Currency Units: U.S. Dollar (The stock trades in U.S. dollars.)

See Also