From my experience with stock market investing, it is important to start with the basics. That is why our discussion will begin with the topic of share price (which is also known as stock price). Although share price is by no means an easy topic to cover, it is a core principle in stock market investing. Without a good understanding of share price, it will be nearly impossible to successfully invest in the stock market.
That said, what is share price? In its most basic and commonly used form, a share price is the current market value of a single share of stock that issued by a corporation (for more information about stock and what stock represents, please visit our What are Stocks page). There are several ways to find the share price for a company. One of my favorite sources for share price information is Google Finance. Here is an example of the current share price for the stock symbol AAPL. The current share price is located just below the name of the company Apple, Inc.
On its own the share price does not tell us much about whether or not a stock is worth buying. Sometimes the share price is high for a company, and other times it is low. You should never assume that a high share price is a good thing or that a low share price is bad. You may be asking yourself if the share price on its own does not tell us much about whether or not a stock is worth buying, then why is it important? The answer is that when the share price is taken into consideration along with other metrics like an organization’s earnings, it becomes one of the best tools for finding “value”. Value is what drives whether or not a stock is worth buying and is thus the key to successful stock market investing.