单项选择题

Stock, in business and finance, is a share of ownership in a corporation. Shares in a corporation can be bought and sold, usually on a public stock exchange. Consequently, the owner of shares can realize a profit or capital gain if the stock is sold at a price above what the owner originally paid for it. Some companies enable stockholders to share in the profits of the company. These payments of corporate profits to stockholders are called dividends. In addition to having a claim on company profits, stockholders are entitled to share in the sale of the company if it is dissolved. They may also vote in person or by proxy on a variety of corporate matters, including the most important matter of who should run the corporation. When the company issues new stock, stockholders have priority to buy a certain number of shares before they are offered for public sale. Stockholders also receive periodic reports, usually quarterly, that provide information regarding the corporation’’s business performance. Stocks generally are negotiable, which means stockholders have the right to assign or transfer their shares to another individual. A stockholder is considered a business owner and has the protection of limited liability under United States laws. Limited liability means that a stockholder is not personally liable for the debts of the corporation. The most a stockholder can lose if the company fails is the amount of his or her investment -- what he or she originally paid for the stock. This arrangement differs from that of other forms of business organization, which are known as sole proprietorships and partnerships. These business owners are personally liable for the debts of their businesses. Corporations have good reasons to issue stocks. They issue stock in order to finance their business activities. This method of raising funds is only available to business firms organized as corporations; it is not available to sole proprietorships and partnerships. The corporation can use the proceeds of a stock offering in a variety of ways. Depending on the type of company, this might involve increasing research and development operations, purchasing new equipment, opening new facilities or improving old ones, or hiring new employees. An alternative to stock financing is debt financing or the sale of bonds, an interest-bearing loan. This alternative is also available to sole proprietorships and partnerships. With the issuance of a bond a company typically promises to make periodic interest payments to the lender or bondholder as well as pay back the amount of the bond when the term of the bond comes to an end. Thus bonds are evidence of loans while stocks are evidence of ownership. Stocks and bonds are collectively known as securities. When a corporation first makes stock available for public purchase, it works with an investment banking firm to arrange an initial public offering (IPO). The investment bank acquires the first issue of stocks from the corporation at a negotiated price, and then makes the shares available for sale to its clients and other investors. A corporation can only have one IPO -- the first time it makes stock available to the public. After its IPO, a company is said to be public. Public corporations that need additional financing for further business development may choose to issue more stock at a later time. This is called a subsequent, or follow-on, offering. Some corporations may choose not to go public. In this case it is said to be a privately held corporation. A corporation may elect to remain private because it docs not want to share its profits, or it may not want to give up control to shareholders. Most of the information reported in the daily news media about the buying and selling of stock refers to transactions involving previously issued stock. The daily buying and selling of stock rarely involves IPOs. Almost all stock transactions are "second-hand transactions." The corporation that initially issued the stock is not directly involved. A corporation’’s capitalized value refers to the market value of the stock that it has issued and that remains outstanding -- that is, available for sale or purchase. A corporation’’ s capitalized value may be greater or less than its book value. Book value is the value of the corporation’’ s assets as reflected in its accounting statements -- that is, on its books. Capitalized value may also be greater or less than the corporation’’s replacement value, the amount that it would take to replace all of the corporation’’s assets. Corporations will sometimes split their stock. This means the corporation replaces outstanding shares with new shares on some multiple basis, such as a two-for-one or three for-one split. When a corporation splits its stock, it does not obtain any new funding. Splits usually occur when the market price of shares is deemed too high by corporate management. With a split the price of shares falls, making purchase by smaller investors more affordable. Keeping a stock relatively affordable for smaller investors makes it easier for a corporation to raise money with a follow-on stock offering. Why People Buy Stock Economic gain represents the primary motive for the purchase of stock. The gain or return from stock consists of two parts: dividends, the periodic payments made from profits, and appreciation, the capital gain realized from selling a stock for more than its purchase price. An investor really has only two choices in acquiring the financial assets of a corporation -- buying stocks or bonds. As a financial claim against a company, bonds take precedence over all types of stock. Thus, they are a safer investment than stocks, especially in times of deflation (a period when the prices of goods and services are generally falling). Stocks, however, are usually the better investment during periods of inflation (a period when the prices of goods and services are generally rising) because they represent ownership of assets that will probably rise in value as fast as or faster than prices in general. Bemuse the dollar value of bonds is fixed, they cannot serve as a hedge or protection against inflation as do common stocks. The passage mainly describes the value of the stocks from the view of the stockholders and the corporation.