steps to researching public listed companies198.12.150.78/.../3/docs/step_research_shares.pdf ·...

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Prevocational Mathematics 1

Steps to researching public listed companies

Step 1: Go to the ASX website at http://www.asx.com.au/ and find Listed Companies in the buttons towards the top of the page.

Source: Australian Stock Exchange. Available Internet. URL: <http://www.asx.com.au/> (Accessed 10 November 2006) ‘Not

part of NEALS’

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Step 2: Click on Listed Companies and then go to the Company research section on the right-hand side of the screen.

Source: Australian Stock Exchange: listed company information, Australian Stock Exchange Limited. Available Internet. URL:

<http://www.asx.com.au/professionals/companies/index.htm> (Accessed 14 November 2006) ‘Not part of NEALS’

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Step 3: Click on Companies research section. The following page should now appear on your screen. All current listed companies can be found in this directory. To find information about the company Candle Australia Limited, go to the letter C in the Listed companies directory.

Source: Australian Stock Exchange: company research, Australian Stock Exchange Limited. Available Internet. URL:

<http://www.asx.com.au/research/companies/index.htm> (Accessed 14 November 2006) ‘Not part of NEALS’

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Step 4: Click on C. All listed companies beginning with the letter C should now appear on your screen. Go to CANDLE AUSTRALIA LTD.

Source: Australian Stock Exchange: listed companies, Australian Stock Exchange Limited. Available Internet. URL:

<http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/CompanyListed.jsp?coName=C> (Accessed 14 November 2006) ‘Not part of NEALS’

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Step 5: Click on CND (CANDLE AUSTRALIA LTD). This page provides access to information about:

• what the company does (Company details)

• what the company is doing at the moment, and what it plans to do in the future (Company announcements)

• share prices (Price history chart)

• dividends

and so on.

Source: Australian Stock Exchange: company information: Candle Australia Limited, Australian Stock Exchange Limited.

Available Internet. URL: <http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/CompanyInfoSearchResults.jsp?searchBy=asxCode&allinfo=on&asxCode=CND> (Accessed 14 November 2006) ‘Not part of NEALS’

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Step 6: Click on Company details and go to Principal Activities at the bottom of this section to find out what the company does.



This company is a recruitment company, that is, it looks for and recruits people with the required skills for specific jobs such as banking, commercial accounting and records management.

You can find out more about this company by going to the Internet address on this screen.

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Step 7: If you scroll further down, you will find information about Closing prices and Dividends.



Closing prices for the last 5 days are listed in this section. Notice that the most recent information is recorded at the top of the table. The number in the column headed Last is the price of the shares when the last trade of the day took place. This is sometimes called the closing price. The price of shares at the close of the day on Monday 13 Nov 2006 was $3.36. This is 1c (or $0.01) less than the price of the shares on the previous day of trading (Friday 10 Nov 2006), when the closing price was $3.37.

The percentage change is the change in the price of the shares expressed as a percentage of the closing price on the previous day. (Both prices must be in dollars or both in cents.) For example, at close of trading on 13 Nov 2006, share prices were $3.36; previously, on 10 Nov 2006, they were $3.37. This is a change (fall, in this case) of $0.01. So,

% change = x 100%

= x 100%

= 0.29…%

≈ 0.3%

A fall in share prices is indicated by a negative sign, so the percentage change from 10 Nov 2006 to 13 Nov 2006 is -0.3%.

You can find out more of what each heading in this Closing prices table means by clicking on the link at the top of the column.

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Step 8: Scroll down further to the Dividends section.



Among other things, this section tells you:

• how much dividend is paid per share.

In the printout above, shareholders received 8c per share in March 2006 and 11c per share in September 2006.

• when the shareholders can expect to be paid the dividends.

Shareholders receive an interim payment in March and a final payment in September of each year.

• whether the dividends are franked.

These dividends are 100% franked, that is, the company has already paid tax on the profits (at 30c in the dollar) before the dividends are paid to the shareholders. Most shareholders will not need to pay more tax on this income.

Daily information on share prices can also be obtained from major newspapers. Details of share prices for Seven Network Ltd from 8 Nov 2006 to 10 Nov 2006 were recorded in the Brisbane Courier-Mail as shown below.

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Seven Network Limited

12-month Date

Share code

Last sale

Move Buy Sell High Low

Sales 1000

Div yield

P/E

12 Nov 2006 7728 9.86 -0.03 9.86 9.87 10.10 7.65 580 2.79f 27

10 Nov 2006 7728 9.89 +0.03 9.85 9.89 10.10 7.65 639 2.78f 27

09 Nov 2006 7728 9.86 9.81 9.86 10.10 7.65 535 2.79f 27

08 Nov 2006 7728 9.86 -0.04 9.86 9.89 10.10 7.65 334 2.79f 27

Notice that the Move column in the newspaper records the amount by which the value of the shares has increased or decreased.

For example, the closing price (the amount recorded in the Last sale column) on 9 Nov 2006 was $9.86. The following day (10 Nov 2006), the closing price was $9.89. This is 3c more than the closing price on the previous day, so the amount recorded in the Move column is +0.03.

12-month Date Share

code Last sale Move Buy Sell

High Low

Sales 1000

Div yield P/E

12 Nov 2006 7728 9.86 -0.03 9.86 9.87 10.10 7.65 580 2.79f 27

10 Nov 2006 7728 9.89 +0.03 9.85 9.89 10.10 7.65 639 2.78f 27

09 Nov 2006 7728 9.86 9.81 9.86 10.10 7.65 535 2.79f 27

08 Nov 2006 7728 9.86 -0.04 9.86 9.89 10.10 7.65 334 2.79f 27

If there is a negative, the price has decreased from the previous day.

If there is nothing recorded in the Move column, the closing price of the shares on that day is the same as the closing price on the previous day.

If there are numbers recorded in the Dividend yield column, this company pays regular dividends to its shareholders. The dividend yield for this company in November 2006 is about 2.79%. The ‘f’ in this column indicates that the dividends are franked, that is, the company has already paid some tax on its profits before the dividends are paid to the shareholders.

steps to researching public listed companies198.12.150.78/.../3/docs/step_research_shares.pdf ·...

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