Share
Also called: stock, equity, equities
A small piece of ownership in a company, including a claim on its profits.
Owning a share means owning a fraction of an actual business — its buildings, contracts, customers and profits. Not a betting slip on the price.
That distinction is the whole difference between investing and gambling. The return comes from the business producing value, not from someone else being wrong.
Shares can go to zero. Established, admired companies have gone bankrupt and left shareholders with nothing, and almost nobody identified them in advance — which is the argument for owning many rather than a few.
Over short periods the price moves largely on sentiment. Over long ones it tracks what the business actually does.
Related terms
Covered properly in Learn.