Stocks are shares of equity or ownership in a corporation.
A stock holder owns a fractional piece of the entire corporation. Common Stock Common stock is the basic ownership shares in a corporation. Once a share has been sold by the company, it will trade from then on among investors. Common stocks offer no performance guarantees, but over time have typically produced a better return than many other investments. Investors buying common stocks take a risk that the company will not do well or that the stock market in general will decline, taking their share values down too.