Stocks & Their Symbols
- A machine to transmit stock trading information was invented in the 1860s. The machine made a noise and came to be a called a ticker. Ticker symbols refer to the stock data originally posted on the ticker tape streaming across brokers' desks and large boards in the exchange. Each stock market had its own company symbol. Standard & Poor's standardized the system. An investor could tell which exchange -- the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Nasdaq -- a stock was listed on by its stock symbol. NYSE symbols were one to three letters; Nasdaq symbols had four. The rules changed in 2007 allowing companies moving from the NYSE to the Nasdaq to keep their symbols.
- Stock symbols contain anywhere from one to four letters and numbers. Additional letters are sometimes added to the stock symbol to denote special circumstances. The letters A or B following the company symbol denote whether the stock represents A shares or B shares. The Nasdaq and NYSE have different stock suffixes and meanings. An F following the symbol on the Nasdaq exchange represents a foreign stock. Q implies the company is in bankruptcy proceedings. The letter T denotes the stock comes with warrants or rights. Examples of NYSE suffixes include CL for a called issue, CV for a convertible, PR for preferred stock and RT for rights.
- There are many websites where a stock symbol can be found. Both the NYSE Euronext and the Nasdaq sites have symbol search boxes. Morningstar and The Wall Street Journal provide symbol lookup sites as well (see Resources).
- One-letter symbols are easily remembered. C is Citigroup Inc's stock symbol. It used to be the symbol for Chrysler before the company was purchased by the German firm Daimler. HOTT is the symbol for the clothing chain Hot Topic Inc. CAR is the symbol for Avis Budget car rental company. GE is General Electric and GM is General Motors. LOW is the Lowe's chain of home improvement stores. CSCO is the symbol for the electronic and communications manufacturer Cisco and YHOO represents the Internet firm Yahoo. DELL is the symbol for the Dell computer company and AAPL is Apple Inc., maker of personal computers, software and electronic products such as the iPhone.