Common Share

Introduction

Common stock is a type of security that represents ownership in a company. (Investopedia 2011) The owner of a common stock is called either a shareholder or a stockholder. Shareholders have rights to elect the board of director of a company and they also have the rights to vote for some important decisions like company policy and stock splits. (Investowords 2011) As a return to shareholders for investing money into the company, the shareholders are entitled to get dividend from the company every year. Unlike preferred stocks where the holders are guaranteed to get dividend regularly every year, the holders of common stocks will get their dividend only if the company decided to do so plus they have earned some profits. (Investopedia 2011) Although common stock or common share has higher risk than bonds, however it also gives higher return, which attracts a lot of people to invest in common shares to earn money.

Examples of companies that issue common shares in Malaysia:

1. AMMB (1015) – AMMB Holdings Berhad

2. AXIATA (6888) – Axiata Group Berhad (formerly known as TM International Berhad)

3. BAT (4162) – British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Berhad

4. CIMB (1023) – CIMB Group Holdings Berhad

5. DIGI (6947) – DiGi.Com Berhad

6. GAMUDA (5398) – Gamuda Berhad

7. GENM (4715) – Genting Malaysia Berhad

8. GENTING (3182) – Genting Berhad

9. HLBANK (5819) – Hong Leong Bank Berhad

10. HLFG (1082) – Hong Leong Financial Group Berhad

11. IOICORP (1961) – IOI Corporation Berhad

12. KLK (2445) – Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad

13. MAS (3786) – Malaysian Airline System Berhad

14. MAXIS (6012) – Maxis Berhad

15. MAYBANK (1155) – Malayan Banking Berhad

16. MISC (3816) – MISC Berhad

17. MMCCORP (2194) – MMC Corporation Berhad

18. PBBANK (1295) – Public Bank Berhad

19. PCHEM (5183) – Petronas Chemicals Group Berhad

20. PETDAG (5681) – Petronas Dagangan Berhad

21. PETGAS (6033) – Petronas Gas Berhad

22. PLUS (5052) – PLUS Expressways Berhad...