Pada artikel sebelumnya kita sudah mengenal sedikti tentang saham. Berikut ini adalah artikel berikutnya tentang Saham atau yang biasa di sebut juga stock; bagaimana saham itu di nilai, apakah risiko yang ada di dalamnya, dst. Silahkan langsung saja baca artikel berikut ini:
STOCK IS OWNERSHIP, simple as that.
Buy
a share of Microsoft and you acquire a tiny sliver of the software
giant, tying your fate to that of Chairman Bill Gates, for better or
worse. This is ownership in the most literal sense: You get a piece of
every desk, contract and trademark in the place. Better yet, you own a
slice of every dollar of profit that comes through the door. The more
shares you buy, the bigger your stake becomes.
OK, So How Is a Stock Valued?
The stock market itself is basically a daily referendum on the value of the companies that trade there. All those guys screaming at each other? Their job is to take in the day's news and distill it down to a single question: Will it help the companies I own make money in the future, or will it prevent them from doing so? If Microsoft loses a court battle to the Justice Department, look for its shares to fall. But if strong economic numbers come out promising better PC sales, traders will buy with a vengeance.
The stock market itself is basically a daily referendum on the value of the companies that trade there. All those guys screaming at each other? Their job is to take in the day's news and distill it down to a single question: Will it help the companies I own make money in the future, or will it prevent them from doing so? If Microsoft loses a court battle to the Justice Department, look for its shares to fall. But if strong economic numbers come out promising better PC sales, traders will buy with a vengeance.
Earnings (a.k.a. profits) are the
supreme measure of value as far as the market is concerned. Wall Street
is obsessed with them. Companies report their profits four times a year
and investors pore over these numbers -- expressed as earnings per share
-- trying to gauge a company's present health and future potential.
The market rewards both fast earnings
growth and stable earnings growth. Stock traders will even pay up for a
money-losing company that promises to earn a lot in the future (witness
1998's explosion in Internet stocks). Things the market will not
tolerate are declining earnings or unexplained losses. Companies that
surprise Wall Street with bad quarterly reports almost always get
punished.
What About Risk?
While history shows that stocks will rise given the fullness of time, there are no guarantees -- especially when it comes to individual stocks. Unlike a bond, which promises a payout at the end of a specified period plus interest along the way, the only assured return from a stock is if it appreciates on the open market. (While many companies pay shareholders dividends out of their earnings, they are under no obligation to do so.) The worst-case scenario is that a company goes bankrupt and the value of your investment evaporates altogether. Happily, that's rare. More often, a company will run into short-term problems that depress the price of its stock for what seems an agonizingly long period of time.
While history shows that stocks will rise given the fullness of time, there are no guarantees -- especially when it comes to individual stocks. Unlike a bond, which promises a payout at the end of a specified period plus interest along the way, the only assured return from a stock is if it appreciates on the open market. (While many companies pay shareholders dividends out of their earnings, they are under no obligation to do so.) The worst-case scenario is that a company goes bankrupt and the value of your investment evaporates altogether. Happily, that's rare. More often, a company will run into short-term problems that depress the price of its stock for what seems an agonizingly long period of time.
For all the risk, however, there are
ways to manage your exposure. The best is to diversify by owning a
variety of stocks. That way, no single company can harm you. (Check out
our Risk vs. Reward section for more on diversification strategies.)
It's also important to remember that investors are well compensated for
rolling the dice with equities. Historically, the long-term return from
stocks is about 11% annually, while bonds -- which are less risky --
return just 5.2%. Over time, that spread can make a huge difference in
the earning power of your savings (see The Power of Compounding).
One final note: Along with ownership, a
share of stock gives you the right to vote on management issues.
Company executives work at the behest of shareholders, who are
represented by an elected board of directors. By law, the goal of
management is to increase the value of the corporation's equity. To the
extent this doesn't happen, shareholders can vote to have management
removed.
That's the way it is supposed to work,
anyway. As we noted above, one of the grim realities of the stock
market is that individual investors rarely amass enough stock to be able
to exert any tangible influence over a company -- that's left to big
institutional shareholders or groups of company insiders. Consequently,
it behooves you to carefully research management's competence before you
buy a stock. And the best measure of that may be the company's ability
to consistently deliver earnings over time.
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