How to Determine Stock Value

Choose a stock to analyze. Most online and newspaper stock quotes list both earnings per share (EPS) and P/E. Earnings are the latest quarter's net profit figures. Net profit is calculated by subtracting expenses from revenues. Earnings per share is figured by dividing total net earnings by the number of shares of that stock that are issued and outstanding.
Calculate the price/earnings ratio by dividing a company's earnings per share into the price you would pay to buy one share of its stock. If your stock quote contains P/E, use that price/earnings ratio rather than figure your own. Find industry average P/Es on Yahoo! Finance by getting a quote on a stock in your target industry and then clicking on the 'competitors' link in the left navigation bar. The link will take you to statistics of major competitors of the company you quoted and to statistics for the industry as a whole.
Compare the price/earnings ratio to those of other companies in that industry. When the marketplace is excited about a new industry, as it was by computers in 2000, the P/Es will be high. Computer industry P/Es at that time were averaging 49 times earnings (49x), while railroads traded at 16x, banking at 13x and airlines at 10x. Yahoo! Finance lists average P/Es as of November 2009 for the computer industry at 32x, railroads at 16x, banking at 18x, and airlines at 38x. Within each industry sector, prominent companies will trade higher or lower than their industry average, depending on their outlook.
Try other methods of determining the real value of a stock relative to its price. These involve analyzing that company's financial reports. You can determine whether a company is selling below its cash value by adding its cash and equivalents plus its short-term investments and then dividing by the number of shares outstanding. This will give you cash per share, which occasionally exceeds the price of the stock. Such stocks are considered bargains by value investors, who will buy them in the expectation that they will trade up in price as other investors discover them.
Use the ratio of stock price to book value to determine the value of a stock using the company's financial reports. Take shareholders' equity and divide that by the number of shares outstanding and you will have book value per share. Find the price-to-book-ratio by then dividing the offered price of the stock by the book value per share. The lower this number, the greater the value of the stock at that price. Use this in comparing companies within an industry to determine which is selling at a better price relative to value.
Calculate the return on equity (ROI) by taking total shareholders' equity and dividing it by the company's annual earnings. The larger the number, the better the ROI.

How to Cash an Old Stock Certificate (6 Steps)

Examine the stock certificate. It contains the information you need to find the company that issued it. You need the full company name plus the “CUSIP” number. The number is a unique identifier your broker can use to help track down the company, even if it now does business under another name. Also make a note of the owner of record and of the incorporation location (the state that issued the charter of incorporation).
Check financial websites such as Yahoo! Finance (which has business listings free to examine) or Dun & Bradstreet (which charges a fee), or even in your public library. If you find the company name listed as an active business concern, you’re well on your way.
Call or write the state agency in the incorporation state (usually the secretary of state) as a last resort. They will have records of the original articles of incorporation and can tell you if the company changed its name, moved out of state or is defunct.
Contact the company’s transfer agent if the business still exists. Transfer agents are firms that handle the stock certificates and transactions on behalf of publicly traded companies. Find out what their requirements are for you to transfer ownership of the stock to yourself and what documents are needed to verify you are entitled to the shares.
Follow the transfer agent’s instructions. For example, you may be asked for a copy of a probated will that names you as beneficiary. Once everything is in place, fill out the transfer of ownership form located on the back of the stock certificate and sign it in the presence of a notary public.
Send the stock certificate and required documentation to the transfer agent via certified mail. Once the agent credits the shares to you as a registered stockholder, call your broker or transfer agent and place a sell order for the shares to cash in that old stock certificate.

How to Check the Stock Market

Compile a list of the stocks that you currently own and those that you have interest in purchasing. It is almost impossible to monitor and track all of the stocks available, therefore developing a list of those that you have direct interest in is important.
Create a portfolio of your current holdings including share amounts and purchase prices. This can be done simply with a spreadsheet or with an on-line portfolio tracking program. This will help you keep your information well organized.
Sign up for alerts by ticker symbol for stocks that you have the highest interest in. This can be done through various on-line sites including Yahoo Finance and Google Finance. This type of alert system should also be available to you should you have an on-line trading account. In addition, periodically review market overview information at the home page of finance web sites.yahoo.comgoogle.com
Read all information on company websites and general news sites. A fast way to find information on a company that you are interested in is to search the web based on the trading symbol of the company.
Download and install financial trading and monitoring applications to your personal computer, laptop and smart phone to make sure that you have the ability to check the stock market whenever you need to. The benefit of technology is that investors have the ability to check the stock market as they need to and no longer check only the closing price printed in newspapers.
Develop and maintain a schedule to track and monitor the stock market so that you become accustomed to doing so on a regular and routine basis. Stock market investors learn through experience, knowledge and consistency. Letting your knowledge base lapse is a fast way to fall out of favor with the market as it changes so often and so fast.