How to Measure Stock Performance

Determine the original stock price. This is the price of the stock when you purchased it. Let's say you purchased the stock for $50 per share.
Determine the current or ending stock price. The ending stock price is its price when sold, say, at the end of the year for tax purposes. Let's say you are considering the sale of your stock, but want to know its performance first. The current value of the stock is $60.
Determine the stock's earnings. This is the difference between the ending (or current) price and the original purchase price. The calculation is: $60 - $50 = $10.
Calculate the stock's performance. Divide the stock's earnings by the original amount paid. The calculation is: $10 / $50 = .20, or 20 percent. This is your return on investment.

How to Invest in the Italian Stock Market (7 Steps)

Check among the major securities brokerages to see which offers the most favorable combination of account terms and access to the Italian stock market. Choose the brokerage that commands the lowest commission fees while still offering investors the opportunity to invest in the Italian stock market.
Hire a financial adviser. If at all possible, it's best to find one who knows the Italian stock market and has some degree of experience helping people invest in it.
Sit down with your financial adviser and create a personal investment plan. Determine how much money you're willing to commit to investing in the stock market, remembering that while securities trading offers the potential for aggressive returns, it also poses significant risk.
Follow Italian news and current events in addition to the Borsa Italiana index. Before you invest, you should have a solid working knowledge of the Italian economy and know which companies compose the backbone of the Borsa Italiana.
Pick an industry experiencing significant growth or one with solid growth potential if you're looking to invest long term. Identify the various Italian companies operating in that industry, and do your stock market homework on them, just as you would for an American company. If you don't know how to research a stock properly, head to your library or local bookstore for help.
Contact your brokerage firm when you have determined which Italian company you want to invest in. Place your order and wait while it is filled. Your domestic brokerage needs to route the request to an appropriate, licensed Italian stockbroker to complete the transaction. You may experience a delay while your order goes through.
Follow your investment using the Borsa Italiana's stock-quote tool on the Borsa Italiana S.p.A. English website (see Resources below). Sell when you've reached your investment goal or when the going gets too tough for your risk tolerance.

How to Invest in the Paris Bourse Stock Exchange

Learn how the Euronext is structured. In September 2000, the Paris Bourse Stock Exchange became the Paris-based Euronext exchange, with subsidiary exchanges based in five other European countries. In 2006, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Group and the Euronext merged to form the NYSE Euronext.
Speak to your financial adviser about your personal finance plan. Determine how much money to invest in the exchange formerly known as the Paris Bourse, remembering that any wise investor knows better than to sink everything into a single place.
Open a trading account with a discount brokerage. Thanks to the merger of the NYSE and the Euronext, international investors have much easier access to the Paris stock exchange than they do to other major international stock markets. Thus your buy and sell requests don't necessarily have to be routed through a Paris-based broker for your order to be filled.
Choose a French company to invest in. The best way to find these is to track trends in the Paris exchange by reading local, English-language financial papers and following the market for a period of weeks or months. Check into a company's background the same as you would for a domestic stock: know the share's price history, review financial statements, check earnings forecasts and make a decision about which company's stock offers the best value.
Place an order to buy shares of the company you've decided upon through your brokerage. Use the NYSE Euronext's English homepage to get up-to-date stock quotes and follow your investment (see Resources below).

How to Calculate Treasury Stock Transactions

Determine the number of shares and the price per share at which your company repurchased its stock. For example, assume your company repurchased 500 shares of stock at $5 per share.
Multiply the number of shares by the price per share to calculate the repurchase cost. For example, multiply 500 by $5, which equals $2,500.
Increase your treasury stock account and reduce your cash account in your accounting records by the amount of the repurchase cost. For example, increase your treasury stock account by $2,500, and reduce your cash account balance by $2,500.



Multiply the number of shares of treasury stock you resold by the price per share at which you resold them. Then increase your cash account by that amount in your accounting records. For example, if you resold 250 shares for $6 per share, multiply 250 by $6, which equals $1,500. Then increase your cash account by $1,500.
Multiply the number of shares you resold by the price per share at which you initially repurchased them. Then reduce your treasury stock account by that amount in your accounting records. For example, if you initially repurchased the 250 shares for $5 per share, multiply 250 by $5, which equals $1,250. Then decrease your treasury stock account by $1,250.
Subtract the amount for which you initially repurchased the shares from the amount you received from reselling them to determine your profit. Then increase your paid-in-capital from treasury stock account by that amount. For example, subtract $1,250 from $1,500, which equals $250. Then increase your paid-in-capital account by $250.



Multiply the number of shares of treasury stock you resold by the price per share at which you resold them that is lower than the initial repurchase price. Then increase your cash account balance by that amount. For example, if you resold 250 shares for $4 per share, multiply 250 by $4, which equals $1,000. Then increase your cash account balance by $1,000.
Multiply the number of shares you resold by the price per share at which you initially repurchased them. Then decrease your treasury stock account balance by that amount in your accounting records. For example, if you initially repurchased the 250 shares for $5 per share, multiply 250 by $5, which equals $1,250. Then decrease your treasury stock account balance by $1,250.
Subtract the amount for which you resold the shares from the amount for which you originally repurchased them to determine your loss. Then decrease your paid-in-capital from treasury stock account by that amount. For example, subtract $1,000 from $1,250, which equals a $250 loss. Then decrease your paid-in-capital account by $250.

How to Lift Restrictions on a Stock Certificate

Contact your brokerage firm and request the paperwork required to remove the restrictive legend on your stock certificate.
Confirm with your brokerage firm that it will send you, at a minimum, the Rule 144 Seller's Representation Letter, the SEC Form 144 and a Stock Power form. Your firm may also require additional forms.
Determine whether your status is 'affiliate' or 'non-affiliate' of the company and complete the Seller's Representation letter accordingly.
Contact your company or your company's transfer agent to obtain the appropriate IRS Identification Number and SEC File Number. You will need this information in order to complete the SEC Form 144.
Complete and sign your brokerage firm's Irrevocable Stock Power form. This form allows your broker to negotiate the certificate on your behalf, but it does not give your broker ownership of the shares.
Make and keep a copy of your completed forms and your stock certificate.
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Contact your brokerage firm upon its receipt of your package and ensure you completed all forms correctly. If it sees a problem, you can likely correct it without its having to mail back the entire package.
Follow up with the issuer's transfer agent if the restriction on your certificate has not been removed within six weeks of your sending in your paperwork. Your broker must depend on the transfer agent to complete this step.

How to Calculate Stock Worth

Determine the ticker symbol for the stock in which you are interested. There are numerous websites that provide the ticker symbol when you type the name of the company into a web form.
Enter the ticker symbol into a website that offers stock quotes. The quote that the website returns is the price of one share of that stock as of that moment unless a time delay is specified.
Multiply the price of one share by the number of shares you own, and the result is the worth of your position in that stock.

How to Chart Stock Movements with Candlestick Charts

Choose a stock to chart. For this exercise, we're just going to make one candlestick, so you only need the closing information for one day's trading for one stock. The chart shows the historical price data for Satyam Computers for May 18, 2009. You'll need the opening price, closing price, high and low for the day.
On a piece of graph paper, label the vertical axis with numbers from the lowest price of the day to the highest price of the day.Ex. The stock we're charting hit a high of 2.20 and a low of 2.00, so the vertical is labeled along the vertical from 2.00 to 2.20.
Determine whether the stock closed higher or lower than it opened. If the opening price is higher than the closing price, you'll use a red marker. If the opening price is lower than the closing price, you'll use a blue marker. If the stock opened and closed at the same price, you'll use a black marker. Using the right color marker, place a dot at the low price for the day.
Place a second blue dot at the high price for the day. Connect the two dots with a thin line. This is the 'wick' of the candle.
Find the opening price for the day and mark a horizontal line across the wick at that point. Do the same with the closing price.
Draw a thick blue line between the two horizontal marks to create the candle body. That's the complete candlestick.
Take some time to get familiar with the anatomy of the candlestick you just drew. There's a lot more information in that little symbol than you think. The color tells you whether the stock traded up or down over the course of the day. The length of the entire candle from wick top to wick bottom tells you the entire range of trading for the day. The length of the body tells you how much the stock moved from the starting bell to the closing bell. The length of the wick on either end can suggest the tenor of the market trading. For instance, a long top wick on a short candle body suggests a bullish push that was rejected by traders, while a long top wick on a long candle body suggests that the market pushed back against a bullish rise but couldn't force prices back down to the opening price.

How to Find the Average Price of Common Stock

Determine the purchase prices for the common stock and the quantity of stock purchased at particular prices. For example, assume you purchased 1,000 shares of stock in Company A at $5 per share, 1,500 shares at $4 per share and 2,500 shares at $10 per share.
Multiply the purchase prices by the quantity purchased and add. Continuing the example, (1,000 x $5) + (1,500 x $4) + (2,500 x $10) = $5,000 + $6,000 + $25,000 = $36,000
Add the total number of shares purchased. Continuing the example, 1,000 + 1,500 + 2,500 = 5,000 shares.
Divide the total cost of the shares by the total number of shares: $36,000/5,000 = $7.20. This is the average price of the common stock.

How to Calculate Outstanding Shares of Stock

Determine the par value of the share. The par value of the share is listed under stockholders' equity on the balance sheet. For example, Ricky Rat Corporation has a par value of $4 per common share.
Determine the value of the listed share on the balance sheet. This is a number listed under each year. Determine the year you want to calculate and look at the corresponding line underneath the year on the balance sheet. For example, Ricky Rat Corporation's common share is listed as $20,000 on their balance sheet.
Divide the listed share's value by the par value of the share to find the number of shares outstanding. For example divide $20,000/$4 = 5,000 shares.

How to Choose a Stock Broker (10 Steps)

Build a list of potential brokers. Many names are part of the culture. Take Merrill Lynch and TD Ameritrade, two well known companies. One gives full service the other discount. Choose a name with a good history. Read the reviews for stock brokers at the consumersearch website.
Compare minimum cash needed to open an account. This varies from several hundred to several thousand dollars. Analyze your personal financial situation and how much money you have to put upfront.
Determine the type of investments you want to make. Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, options are some main choices. Look at your potential list to see which company offers the right investment vehicles.
Pick a full service broker. Their service costs more but for the most part leaves investment decisions with the broker. See the customer ratings before you apply. Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS are a few of the big names. See the annual full-service rankings at the smartmoney website.
Choose a discount broker. Make your own investment decisions with a discount online broker. Save money on commissions and fees. Look at the big names and compare, such as TD Ameritrade, E-Trade and Scottrade.
See how much each stock order costs. Online trades are less expensive. A broker assisted trade is much higher per transaction.
Check out additional fees. These range from inactivity fees to maintenance fees. Each stock broker will list their fees and all have websites containing this information.
Think about the services you want. Level II quotes, interactive charts, streaming news, check writing and research are good tools for the investor.
Look at local office locations. Make sure an office is reasonably near your home, more so with a full service broker.
Talk to your potential broker on the phone. Prepare questions in advance and get a feel for the person. Choose a firm that you can rely on and trust.