Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with stock

How can I tell how much my pre-IPO stock options might be worth?

cman — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:34:43 -0800

How can I tell how much my pre-IPO stock options might be worth? I have a few bits of data: I know the exercise price of the options now and a couple years ago. I also know roughly how much money has been invested by VC's in the company. And I can make estimates as to how much the company will be worth in 5 years.

Can I use a retirement fund to buy out startup stock options?

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:25:12 -0800

I'm about to leave a startup to go to a different company, and I need some help figuring out how to handle my stock options. I currently work for a startup at which I have accrued X stock options at a price of $Y. From the date I leave, I have 90 days to buy out the options. I don't currently have the cash on hand to do this, but I do have approximately X*$Y in my 401k, which I would have to roll over either to the new company's 401k or to an IRA.

I think I heard that you can buy out options like this in a retirement fund, but if this is true I need to better understand the details and mechanics of it. Is anyone familiar with this situation who can tell me what to look for? Are there specific types of IRAs or anything like that which would give me more flexibility? What do I need to know?

For what it's worth, I do believe the startup will succeed; I'm leaving because my job there is not what I want. Also, I'm in my mid-twenties. So I am not concerned about using my (currently minimal) retirement fund to buy these out.

T-shirt graphic search

lou — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:49:51 -0800

Where can I find some high-quality images of models (male and female) wearing blank colored t-shirts? Basically, so I can use them to mockup t-shirt designs on actual people wearing actual shirts. Different colors are key-- I'm looking for navy blue and red/maroon at the moment-- and relatively high quality, you know, larger than a 400x300 gallery thumbnail. Google image search doesn't help much.

Of course, I'd prefer anything freely available/accessible, so don't refer me to stock image sites-- I know about them, not willing to pay for them right now.

Which companies provide additional benefits/incentives for stockholders?

borkencode — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:28:22 -0800

Which companies provide additional, non dividend, benefits or incentives for stockholders? I saw someone mention in passing here on AskMe about a phone company sending phone cards as part of its annual report, a practice that had since been discontinued. What companies still do this sort of thing? Either through giving away or discounting their services, or offering some other benefit (secret stockholder's lounge?).

How to account for stock merger in MS Money?

Sweetie Darling — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:04:55 -0800

Looking for a Microsoft Money/ Quicken expert - or any smart accounting/finance person, really - to help me figure out how to document the recent Pfizer-Wyeth merger in MS Money. Pfizer merged with (acquired) Wyeth on Oct. 15. Eligible shareholders received $33 cash and .985 shares of Pfizer for every share of Wyeth we held, plus a cash payout for any fractional shares.

In MS Money, do I

- Sell Wyeth and Buy Pfizer? If so, at what prices - the closing prices on 10/15 ($17.66 PFI, $50.39 WYE)?

or, do I

- Remove Shares of Wyeth and Add Shares of Pfizer? If so, how do I account for the $33/share of cash?

Also, how do I document the fractional share payout?

I found these FAQs on the Pfizer webpage http://media.pfizer.com/files/investors/shareholder/Pfizer_Wyeth_FAQ.pdf and this question-and-answer on a different forum http://www.rockryno.com/quicken/How-do-I-handle-the-recent-merger-of-Pfizer-and-Wyeth-19406-.htm, but I'm still not sure I understand the mechanics of recording this in Money.

Thanks in advance for your help. This is making my head hurt.

How do I buy a pink sheet stock

jefficator — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:10:51 -0800

How would I buy stock in Hyundai? Hyundai is listed as a pink-sheet stock, symbole HYMLF. Can I buy this stock? If so, how?

Does shorting the competition count as insider trading?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:15:31 -0800

I work for Acme Widgets, a competitor of WorldWide Doodads. I know that tomorrow we will be releasing an amazing widget that is going to completely outshine WorldWide's product lineup. Obviously, I can't do anything with Acme's stock - that would be insider trading. But what about shorting WorldWide's stock? Is that allowed?

Bone with a juicy center?

tasty — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:20:12 -0800

I purchased some expensive beef bones by accident $3/lb, and was planning to make stock with them. However, after a quick roast, I saw the inner circle became something soft and edible, while the outer circle remained bone. What did I get, and should I still make stock with these?

Writing covered calls as a feasible source of income for retail investor?

pakoothefakoo — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:39:03 -0800

Writing covered calls as a feasible source of income for retail investor? I've been reading up on options trading, and from my understanding covered calls is a low risk way to generate some profits on your stock.

Is it possible and feasible for a retail investor to make regular income from covered calls? I'm not looking for huge gains, just extra $500 or so there and there.

If yes, then what kind of stock should I be writing covered calls on?

How accurate are 3rd party stock analyst reports?

blahtsk — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 10:20:47 -0800

How accurate are third-party stock analyst reports, such as S&P and Argus? I recently got an account at Schwab, and they provide the following 3rd-party analyst reports:
- Schwab Equity Rating
- Credit Suisse Research
- Ned Davis Research
- Argus 12 Month Rating
- Standard & Poor Stock Reports
- Reuters Research
- Market Edge Second Opinion

I especially like the S&P and Argus reports, because they provide the most background information supporting their positions. My question is, how can I find data on how accurate these reports are? For example, is there a website that tracks 3rd-party predictions vs. results? In lieu of that, is there a way to access older reports from these analysts so I can compile my own data?

Thanks!

(P.S. please no anecdotal info!)

Demi-glaced and confused

jacob — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:06:56 -0800

What should I make with demi-glace? I made 8 or 10 quarts of veal stock on Tuesday, and yesterday I slowly cooked it down to about 2 cups of demi-glace. (No, I didn't go all the way with blending it with sauce espagnole.)

What should I do with it now? I know of a few sauces to make, mainly involving the glace with browned mushrooms and shallots, and a splash of wine. Are there any unusual or interesting recipes involving demi-glace I should try?

Real-time Equities Pricing

nj_subgenius — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:49:01 -0800

Is there a real-time US market data feed better (or at least as good and less expensive) than Yahoo Finance's Market Tracker? My online broker provides great execution and is pretty reasonably priced. My needs are simple enough - solid real-time equities pricing with at least rudimentary technical charting, market breadth, etc. $14/month seems like a good price, but I'd like to know whether any of you have found the same or better with either your online broker, or another third-party service.

Would you guys recommend to buy MOTORS LIQ CO (MTLQQ)?

omaralarifi — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:32:31 -0800

Can I buy MOTORS LIQ CO (MTLQQ) AKA General Motors stock? If yes, Would you guys recommend to buy the stock? Whatever your answer I need to know the reason. Thank You

Flight footage needed for art project

fidgets — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:41:37 -0800

Where can I find a 2-5 minutes of aerial POV footage of a plane flying through clouds (as a single shot)? I need it for the baselayer of a video that will be one element of an installation. I have scoured every film and documentary about flight that I could get my hands on, as well as numerous ArtBeats/Getty (and similar) effects plate libraries. So far I have not come up with anything longer than 30 seconds, and while I can edit those together a single shot would have a much stronger effect and be greatly preferred.

Thank you in advance for your answers.

How to retrieve shares in UK company

Daddysugar — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 23:55:02 -0800

I recently discovered that I am a shareholder of a UK listed company, Anglo Asian Mining Company. I base this discovery on my recent receipt of proxy materials and notice of the annual shareholders meeting, which was held today. I realize the best way to retrieve or have replaced shares of stock in the United States is to contact the investor relations or financial department. This seems like a daunting challenge. Is this the best/only way for me to retrieve whatever number of shares I have in the UK?

Purchasing vested shares in a company

hokie409 — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:53:40 -0800

Best practices for buying vested shares of private company stock? I just switched jobs. My old company is a VC backed IT company. I have 30 days to purchase my vested shares in the company. I'm looking for resources to determine if I should purchase some or all of my shares.
The company is private. And I don't even know the number of shares outstanding. I'm looking for basic information including:
Can I sell the shares to other employees, or private individuals?
Or most likely I just have to wait until they sell or IPO, correct?
And I'm also looking for basic equations or rules of thumb that might help me value the shares in some way. Which I'm sure is hard without knowing the total shares outstanding.

I am not a founder main owner of the company. You could assume the shares are not a large percentage of the business.

AIG bottom price

Penelope — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:32:53 -0800

Do you think AIG could really hit $0.00? Do you think AIG could really hit 0? It is dropping so quickly. It is somewhat tempting to buy in at, I don't know, $5 or something. But what are the risks? Didn't they already declare bankruptcy? What else could possibly make it completely worthless or delisted from the NYSE?

decimal points in placing limit orders on stocks

Penelope — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:11:53 -0800

Why doesn't Questrade let me place Limit Orders on stocks beyond two decimal points, when on these same stocks they display the price wth 4 decimal points? For example, I wanted to place a Buy Limit Order on a stock, and entered a limit price of 1.1533. The order was rejected, but a order at 1.16 was accepted.

They display the current price at 1.1533, so why couldn't I BUY it at 1.1533?

Has anyone successfully negotiated the Medallion Signature Guarantee process?

ackptui — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:40:29 -0800

What exactly is a Medallion Signature Guarantee, and how is it supposed to work? I have been working on transferring assets for an estate, and have been amazed at how complex and redundant all of this has become. Our bank supposedly offers this as a free service to their customers, but makes the process so onerous as to drive said customers away. The amount of copied paperwork generated by the bank manager (obvious ass covering for her and the bank) was staggering next even to that for the stock-transfer agents. She bitched and moaned the entire time about how much of her time we were taking, yet she obviously did not know what she was doing, and from my perspective that was the time-killer. I tried my best to make sure that the i's were dotted and the t's crossed in the right places, but I have no confidence that it will not all come back again with requests for scads more documentation and signoffs. Is there any way to make this a little more foolproof?

FTP for stock photo clients?

klinefelter — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:18:06 -0800

Setting up an FTP account in cpanel for photography clients? I'm a professional photographer who's making the move online (finally) for sales and client services. My host uses cpanel for managing my hosting account, and I need to provide clients with an easy way to access large files. FTP seems to be the standard, but when I use this it requires my stock clients to have an FTP client installed.

Is there an easier way for them to access files without using installed software, just through their web browser?

Know of any really thick paperboard or card stock?

BirdD0g — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:20:32 -0800

Does anyone know of a thick, affordable paperboard stock for packaging? I'm looking for a really thick cover stock, probably 2-3 sheets laminated together to achieve .04" or .05" thickness. Probably somewhere in the 250-300 lb. range.

The final application doesn't need to be printed on, and while different color options would be nice, affordability is key. Fancy cover stocks from paper vendors tend to be ULTRA expensive. I'd settle for something more utilitarian, but I'm open to anything you may know of and any samples or information I might be able to obtain.

What is the origin of this sound effect?

NMcCoy — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:28:18 -0800

The "ssshw-oonk" sound when Mario falls in the pit about 1:20 into this video. I swear I've heard this sound used in other places, as it's fairly distinctive; is this a stock sound effect of some sort? What can you tell me about this sound? I don't need it for anything, I'm just consumed by curiosity.

Taxes on a Slightly Complicated Stock Market Play

jimmyjimjim — Sat, 30 May 2009 06:59:26 -0800

How does one handle the tax situation when frequently buying/selling small stakes of a stock in which you are also holding a long term large stake? Hypothetically: say I've owned 5000 shares of a company for five years, so any gains are now long term. Say the stock price is constantly swinging by 5%, and will continue to do so for 4 months or so. Say at that point, it will break the cycle and shoot skyward.

Just to keep things simple, let's not challenge any of those assumptions.

Say I want to not only profit by the shoot-up in four months time, but also from the swings in the meantime, by setting a sell order for 500 shares at the higher edge of the swing range, and a buy order for the bottom....and repeating over and over in the months ahead.

One complication: if/when the stock at any time dips REALLY low, I will buy another 2000 shares to hold long term. And I will hold my 7000 shares for at least a year after the stock shoots up. But if I get caught out, and don't manage to rebuy my 500 in-and-out shares in time for the shoot-up (and so I have only 6500 shares), that's ok.

My question is how I'd handle this, tax-wise. I'm figuring I'd deem myself to be buying/selling DIFFERENT shares with each cycle, so I can pay long term capital gains tax on each sale profit. After four months, my entire stake (or nearly all) may be new and short term, but, per above, I don't intend to sell for another year, anyway, so it'll all mature before eventual sale.

Without challenging my assumptions about the stock price, does this make sense, tax-wise?

Where do I find the IPO?

jefficator — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:14:51 -0800

Who made the initial public offering? Where can I find a fast and reliable means of determining who made the IPO of a given company? I have a few dozen I'm search for and would rather type the symbol and get the info than do individual research, if possible.

How to sell UK shares not registered in the United States?

Daddysugar — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:09:52 -0800

I own some UK stock which is listed on the London Stock exchange. The companies' shares aren't registered in the United States and cannot be sold in the US. I would like to sell a portion of these shares, so I would like to find the name of an English bank and a telephone number for the appropriate person at the bank.