What is a share/stock?
A share is a piece of a company. It is that simple. Every company has a specific number of shares in issue. Those pieces add up to the total market value of the company.
Example:
- Company X has 100 shares of R10 each.
- You buy 10 shares at R10 each, thus R100.
- You own 10% of company X.
The reason we buy shares is that we expect the share price to increase over time. Share prices do not move up in a straight line. Many factors play a role in share price appreciation or decline. Some of the factors to consider are:
- Revenue growth
- Profitability
- Debt levels
- Competitors
- Market conditions
- The leadership of the company
You never have to buy whole shares if you cannot afford to. We call these fractional shares. Say you only have R5 in our example above.
- The shares in Company X are R10 each.
- You can buy half a share with your available R5.
- You will own 0.5% of Company X and get voting rights in proportion to your shares.