Stocks

What Is a Share?

Owning a tiny slice of a real company.

A share of stock is a fractional ownership stake in a company. If a company has 1 billion shares outstanding and you own 100, you own one ten-millionth of it.

That entitles you to a proportional claim on the company's future earnings (often paid as dividends) and a vote on major decisions.

Stock prices move because investors constantly re-estimate what those future earnings will be.