Shares Outstanding

You can use Mergent to look up shares outstanding for a company.

1. Enter your company
2. Select the Company Financials Tab
3. And change to income statement, then scroll down

Tax Incentives for Corporations

full article here.

For about 25 years, corporations have been the recipient of tax breaks from different locations seeking to attract them. The argument goes that the jobs and development would more than offset the loss of tax revenue.

It appears increasingly true that this is not the case. Operations offer jobs, but these are low-paying temp jobs. And the amount of infrastructure necessary to support the corporations are not paid for by taxing the low-quality jobs. And since the workers are paid nothing, there is no real development.

The article above references the case of the small community outside of Chicago that has turned into a distribution center.

How To Search Using Parentheses

What if there are two are more common or related words and you want to include both of them in your search?  You’ll use parentheses – it works like an algebraic equation.

You enter your search into the database like so:

Example (blue or harvest) moon. You’ll get results that include blue and moon and harvest and moon.

(Soviet or Russia) “Cold War”
You’ll get results that include Soviet and “Cold War” AND Russia and “Cold War.”

If you have been doing searches like blue or harvest moon, you’ll get results back that feature only the word blue together with results that mix harvest and moon. No blue moon exactly, just blue….skies, bells, tooth, etc…

The parentheses make sure (those words go together.)

Pink Sheet and Over the Counter (OTC) Stocks

Not every stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ.

Historically printed on pink paper, these smaller stocks are called pink sheet stocks or Over the Counter Stocks. Another phrase you'll hear is penny stocks.

These smaller companies and certain foreign companies are traded on this exchange. The stocks are usually highly volatile startups that are either the next big thing or scams designed to part you from your money.

Be careful because these stocks are very volatile.

They do not have to undergo the same vetting process as regular SEC registered stocks, although some do register with the SEC.

SEC page with Pink Sheet Information

Homepage for OTC Markets