In one of our recent exercises, we asked our kids to answer a couple of questions about publicly traded companies and research more about them. Our exact question is here -
Using any publicly traded company, find the information below:
- Stock symbol
- Stock price
- Company logo
- Does this company pay a dividend/yield?
- In at least two sentences, why would you invest in this company?
We provided the example of McDonald's, just to get the students familiar with the idea that the companies they see all of the time are publicly traded. Turns out, our students ended up following suit and choosing the publicly traded companies they had experience with!
Here is one answer, from a male student -
“VANS shoes is publicly traded.
The stock symbol is VANS inc. (VANS)
The stock price is $23.15.
The paid yield is $00.17.
I think that VANS would be a good investment because everybody wears VANS. So I’d make a lot of money.”
In keeping with this common theme, one of our other students chose a Southern California shopping mainstay -
“I chose KOHL’S as my public traded company. Stock symbol is KSS. Stock price is $46.08. Pays yield $0.07. I picked this because it’s a popular store.”
We all learned from this exercise and had a blast while doing so! The students are now more aware that the brands and companies they interact with on a daily basis are publicly traded. We were humbly reminded that our students know what they see, and what they are exposed to. Next exercise: research a publicly traded company in the math, science, or technology fields, and research a company that you haven't heard of.
Stay tuned for more fun student answers!