Login | August 04, 2026
Ticker Symbols, Explained
Motley Fool
Published: August 4, 2026
Q. Can you explain stocks' ticker symbols? -- E.M., Hackensack, New Jersey
A. Sure. Every company listed on a United States stock exchange has a unique abbreviation to identify it, called a stock symbol or ticker symbol.
Traditionally, symbols for companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) were usually three or fewer letters, while their Nasdaq Stock Market counterparts were four or five letters long. For example, the NYSE has long been home to Coca-Cola (KO) and Merck (MRK), while Amazon.com (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) are on the Nasdaq.
Times have changed, though, and these days, a short ticker symbol might trade on the Nasdaq, and a four-letter one might be on the NYSE. Some companies have moved from one exchange to another, too. For example, Micron Technology (MU) and PepsiCo (PEP) are now Nasdaq stocks, while Oracle (ORCL) is now on the NYSE.
Also, companies with several classes of shares can have multiple ticker symbols, such as GOOG and GOOGL for Alphabet. And modifiers are sometimes tacked on, such as a Q if a company is in bankruptcy proceedings or a Y if it's based outside of the U.S.
To find a company's ticker symbol online, visit a website such as Fool.com and type the company name into the search box. It's important to get your ticker symbol right when investing, lest you accidentally buy shares of the wrong company!
Q. What's a good introductory investing book? -- S.B., Cincinnati
A. Try John C. Bogle's "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way To Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns" and "I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. Just a 6-Week Program That Works" by Ramit Sethi.
Fool's School
Understanding Balance Sheets
To be a savvy (and potentially more successful) investor in individual stocks, learn what a balance sheet can tell you. (Not all of us have this interest and energy, though; if you don't, just sticking with low-fee, broad-market index funds can be quite effective.)
The balance sheet is one of three main financial statements -- along with the income statement and cash flow statement -- that publicly traded companies are required to issue at least quarterly.
The income statement and cash flow statement show how a company performed over a period, such as a quarter or a year; in contrast, the balance sheet reflects the company's financial health at one point in time -- often the end of a quarter or year.
The balance sheet has three main sections: assets, liabilities and shareholder equity. Assets are set equal to -- that is, they balance -- liabilities and shareholder equity. Rearrange that relationship, and you can state it another way: Shareholder equity equals assets minus liabilities.
Think of it like a personal net worth exercise: Add all your assets (such as house, cars and financial accounts) and subtract your liabilities (including mortgage, car loans and credit card debt) to arrive at your net worth.
A company's assets may include "cash and cash equivalents," "prepaid expenses" (such as insurance paid for ahead of time), "investments" and/or "property, plant and equipment." Some such assets may not be as valuable as they appear, though. For instance, "accounts receivable" reflects money from sales that the company hasn't yet received -- and may not receive. And "inventory" reflects cash tied up in materials that haven't been sold yet, some of which may end up not sold.
Liabilities often include short-term and/or long-term debt. Debt isn't necessarily bad, but it's often good for a business to have relatively little of it. Another liability, "accounts payable," represents invoices the company hasn't yet paid.
Shareholder equity, then, is the difference between assets and liabilities. It's the portion of a company's value that its shareholders can claim.
My Smartest Investment
Shortened My Mortgage, Saved Money
My smartest financial move relates to when I bought a home in 1974. Mortgage rates were almost 10%, so making higher monthly payments in exchange for a 15-year loan wasn't possible. Since most of a mortgage's early payments go toward interest, I figured out what sum was actually going to reduce the principal on my 30-year mortgage and added that amount to my monthly payments. This technique worked well for the first 10 years, and I had paid off almost 20 years of the loan, saving many thousands of dollars not spent on interest. -- R.D., Westerville, Ohio
The Fool responds: That's indeed a smart move for many homeowners. Making extra payments on principal can shorten the life of your loan; doing so regularly, even if you're just sending in a few hundred dollars extra every month or two, can make a big difference. (Another way to do it is to send in an extra monthly payment's worth several times a year.) It's especially powerful if your loan's interest rate is relatively high because every extra dollar of principal you pay off is a dollar that won't be charged interest -- for the rest of the life of the loan.
(Do you have a smart or regrettable investment move to share with us? Email it to TMFShare@fool.com.)
Foolish Trivia
Name That Company
I trace my roots back to 1969, when my first location opened in Columbus, Ohio. The next year, I debuted the first modern drive-thru service. I went public in 1976 and opened my 1,000th restaurant in 1978. (I now have more than 7,000 worldwide.) Baked potatoes were added to my menu in 1983, and my founder appeared in his first TV commercial in 1989. (In 1990, he joined a national program promoting the adoption of children.) I bought Tim Horton's in 1995 and spun it off in 2006. I merged with Arby's in 2008 and split with it in 2011. Who am I?
Last Week's Trivia Answer
I trace my roots back to 1898, when I received my first orders for minicars with innovative direct transmissions. Later models were widely used as taxis -- even delivering soldiers to battle in World War I. (I built ambulances and aircraft engines then, too.) I eventually expanded into buses, trucks and tractors. I broke four speed records in 1956. Today, I'm still based in France; about 15% of me is owned by the French government and another 15% by Nissan Motor, with the rest mostly owned by employees and the public. I sell more than 2 million vehicles annually. Who am I? (Answer: Renault)
The Motley Fool Take
Accent on Accenture
Shares of tech consultancy Accenture (NYSE: ACN) were recently down more than 50% over the past year, pushing the stock into bargain territory for long-term believers.
It's not that the company isn't growing: In the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, Accenture's revenue rose 6% year over year to $18.7 billion, while diluted earnings per share jumped 9%. What investors didn't like was that management lowered near-term expectations while announcing three cybersecurity investments totaling $4.18 billion.
Accenture is buying full or partial control of three specialists in operational technology (OT) security. It's all about protecting the physical stuff that keeps modern life humming along: power grids, pipelines, manufacturing facilities -- and data centers. The company is making a security-focused play on the massive boom in AI-oriented data center construction.
CEO Julie Sweet put it bluntly on the earnings call: "We cannot have an AI revolution without critical infrastructure, and you cannot have those without OT security, which is where the world today is most vulnerable."
Accenture's stock is attractively priced, with a recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 9.3, well below its five-year average of 23.3. Better still, Accenture's dividend recently yielded 4.75%. It's been buying back billions of dollars' worth of shares, too. (The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of and options for Accenture.)
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