Stock

Stock refers to the Shares of ownership in a company or financial Asset that represent a claim on the company’s Assets and earnings. Stockholders may benefit from Capital gains and dividends. Stocks are generally categorized into two main types: common stock and preferred stock.

Examples:

• Common Stock: Investors purchase Shares in a company like Apple Inc. (AAPL), gaining voting rights and potential dividends.
• Preferred Stock: An investor buys Shares in a utility company, receiving fixed dividends before common stockholders are paid.

Cases:

• Initial Public Offering (IPO): A Private Company goes public, selling Shares to investors for the first time, such as Facebook (FB) in 2012.
• Stock Buyback: A company like Microsoft (MSFT) repurchases its own Shares from the market, potentially increasing the value of remaining Shares.