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Ticker symbol

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A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a mnemonic used to uniquely identify publicly-traded shares of a corporation on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both. The word "ticker" used to mean "ticker symbol" is specific to U.S. stock symbols.

U.S stock symbol history

In the United States, modern letter-only ticker symbols were developed by Standard & Poor's (S&P) to bring a national standard to investing. Previously, a single company could have many different ticker symbols as they varied between the dozens of individual stock markets. The term ticker refers to the noise made by the ticker tape machines once widely used by stock exchanges.

The S&P system was later standardized by the securities industry and modified as years passed. Stock symbols for preferred stock have not been standardized.[1]

Examples of U.S. stock symbols

# of Letters Exchange
1 NYSE
2 NYSE, AMEX, PHLX, or other U.S. Stock Exchange
3 NYSE, AMEX, PHLX, Nasdaq, or other U.S. Stock Exchange
4 Nasdaq
5 or more (special)

Currently a glance at a U.S. stock symbol and its appended codes can tell an investor where a stock trades and may give insight to the company's performance.

In July 2007, the SEC approved a plan to allow companies moving from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq to retain their three letter symbols. The change does not apply to companies that have symbols with one or two letters.[2]

Single-letter ticker symbols

Interpreting the symbol

Stock symbols are unique identifiers assigned to each security traded on a market. NASDAQ symbols are four or five characters in length, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) symbols are one to three characters long, American Stock Exchange (AMEX), Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) and other U.S. stock exchange symbols are two or three characters, and Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) symbols are four or five. These letter counts apply to the underlying company, but not always to the entire stock symbol. For example, PCG is the three letter symbol for Pacific Gas & Electric Company, which trades on the NYSE. But PCG-D is Pacific Gas & Electric's preferred D shares, which trade on the AMEX.

Some companies use a well-known product as their ticker symbol. Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser beer, uses "BUD" as its three-letter ticker, symbolising its premier product, while rival Molson Coors Brewing Company uses a similarly beer-related symbol, "TAP." Genentech uses the symbol "DNA," relating to their biochemical research, while Southwest Airlines pays tribute to its headquarters at Love Field in Dallas through its "LUV" symbol. Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, which operates large amusement parks in the United States, uses "FUN" as their symbol, while Steinway Musical Instruments uses the symbol "LVB", to honor their favorite composer and pianist (Ludwig van Beethoven). Starting August 27, 2007, Sun Microsystems uses the symbol "JAVA" for its Java programming language.

Prior to the 1999 merger with Mobil Oil, Exxon used a phonetic spelling of the company "XON" as its ticker symbol. The new firm is known as "XOM". AT&T's ticker symbol is simply "T"; accordingly, the company is referred to simply as "Telephone" on Wall Street (the T symbol is so well-known that when the company was purchased by SBC, it took the AT&T name to capitalize on its history and to obtain the desired single letter symbol).

After Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq computer, the new firm took on the ticker symbol "HPQ". (The former firms were HWP and CPQ.)

NYSE "behind the dot" or Nasdaq 5th-letter codes and other special codes
A - Class "A" K - Nonvoting (common) U - Units
B - Class "B" L - Miscellaneous V - Pending issue and distribution
C - Continuance - or Nasdaq exception M - 4th class - preferred shares W - Warrants
D - New issue N - 3rd class - preferred shares X - Mutual fund
E - Delinquent SEC filings O - 2nd class - preferred shares Y - American Depositary Receipt (ADR)
F - Foreign P - 1st class preferred shares Z - Miscellaneous situations
G - First convertible bond Q - In bankruptcy Special codes
H - 2nd convertible bond R - Rights .PK - A Pink Sheet, indicating over-the-counter
I - 3rd convertible bond S - Shares of beneficial interest SC - Nasdaq Small Cap
J - Voting share - special T - With warrants or rights NM - Nasdaq National Market

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, prior to 1996, stock codes were known as EPICs, named after the London Stock Exchange's Exchange Price Information Computer (e.g.: "MKS" for Marks and Spencer). Following the introduction of the Sequence trading platform in 1996 EPICs were renamed Tradable Instrument Display Mnemonics (TIDM), but they are still widely referred to as EPICs. Stocks can also be identified using their Stock Exchange Daily Official List (SEDOL) number.

International

Stock symbols are indispensable for stock market work in non-European countries. In countries where Arabic script is used, and in East Asia, translated Roman script versions of company names may be confusing to an unpracticed Western reader; stock symbols provide a simple means of clear communication in the workplace. Many Asian countries use numerical or alphanumerical ticker symbols instead of characters to facilitate international trade.

  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - 1398.HK [Hong Kong]
  • HSBC - 0005 [Hong Kong]
  • DBS Bank - D05 [Singapore]
  • Jardine C&C - C07 [Singapore]
  • TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK - 5012 [Japan]
  • Toshiba Corp - 6502 [Japan]
  • China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd - 601998 [Shanghai - China]
  • Hubei Golden Ring Co Ltd - 000615 -Shenzhen - China]
  • ASUSTEK - 2357 [Taiwan]
  • Chunghwa Telecom Co Ltd - 2412 [Taiwan]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.quantumonline.com/PfdSymbolsNames.cfm
  2. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN1036624820070710
  3. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/BROKER/idUSN0461758820080204
  • Eckett, Stephen (ed.) (2004). The UK Stock Market Almanac 2005. Petersfield: Harriman House. ISBN 1-897597-46-0. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
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