Basics

A plain guide to reading a quarterly earnings report: the four numbers to find first, why good news can drop...

A full, plain-English guide to buying your first stocks: how the market works, how to open an account, how to...

What happens when a company splits its stock, why it does it, and what it does and does not change.

The balance sheet shows what a company owns and owes. Here is how to read it in a few minutes.

The spread is the gap between what buyers offer and what sellers ask. It is a hidden cost worth knowing.

Volume shows how many shares traded. Learn how to read it and what high or low volume can signal.

What bull and bear markets mean, how long they have tended to last, and how to stay steady in both.

An initial public offering is when a company first sells shares to the public. Here is how it works and...

The price to earnings ratio compares a stock price with the company profit. See how to calculate it and where...

A quick routine for scanning a quarterly report: revenue, profit, cash, debt and what management says about the road ahead.