Stock Market Paper

Randy Arrington

April 19, 2016

Small Business Management

Stock Market Paper

Stock, also known as capital stock, is the capital raised by a business or corporation through the issue and subscription of shares. Stock is some sort of security that gives ownership in a corporation and shows a claim on part of the corporation’s assets and earnings. A shareholder, a person who owns stock, has a claim to part of the corporation’s assets and earnings. There are two types of stock, which are common and preferred.

Common stock usually gives shareowners a right to vote at shareholders’ meetings and receive dividends. Common stock is usually used in the United States. Common stockholders are usually on the bottom of the priority list for ownership structure. They are called “common” to distinguish the difference from preferred stock. Preferred stock generally has no voting right but those shareholders are higher on the priority list for ownership structure. They have a higher claim on assets and earnings than people who own common shares. People who own preferred stock generally receive dividends before common shareholders.

Stock exchanges are an exchange where stock brokers and traders are able to buy and/or sell stocks/shares, bonds, and other securities of company ownership. The U.S. stock exchanges are the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the NASDAQ and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). The NASDAQ is a virtual stock exchange. The American Stock Exchange is the third largest stock exchange in the United States. It’s located in New York City and handles about 10 percent of all securities traded in the United States. The New York Stock Exchange, has also been called the “Big Board”, is an American stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York. It’s the world’s largest exchange and their indices are Dow Jones, S&P 500, and NYSE Composite.

The one company that I chose to speak about was from the NASDAQ is 2U Inc (TWOU). 2U is an education technology company that partners with top nonprofit colleges & universities around the world to offer online degree courses and programs. The company’s sector is technology services and involved in the packaged software industry. The company’s market cap is 1.2 billion dollars. 2U Inc. provides a cloud-based packaged software as a service solutions for schools to deliver education to qualified students. The service solutions include online campus, an online learning platform that offers an instructor-led classes live, mobile application that allows clients to author, review, and deploy content onto their online programs. According to CNN Money, “The company offers a suite of technology-enabled services, including content development, student acquisition, and state authorization services, as well as application advising, student and faculty support and in-program student field placements that support the lifecycle of a higher education program or course. 2U was founded by Christopher J. Paucek in April 2008 and is headquartered in Landover, MD.”