Know Your Stock Symbols
Stock or ticker symbols are the abbreviations used to represent a stock or mutual fund. They are a necessary way to keep track of and find information about a security. Whenever you use a quoting service, you will be asked to type in the ticker symbol. Not all symbols correlate logically with the name of the company they represent. For example, the stock symbol for Internet America, Inc., is GEEK.OB. It's important that you learn the correct symbol for each company you invest in and each company you're researching for potential investment.
Cedar Fair, L.P. is a publicly traded company with the seemingly unlikely stock symbol FUN. But the symbol is more appropriate than you'd think. Cedar Fair owns eleven amusement parks around the United States. You may have been to Dorney Park and Wildwater Kingdom (Pennsylvania), Kings Dominion (Virginia), or Knott's Berry Farm (California), all of which are owned and operated by Cedar Fair. No wonder their symbol is FUN!
The NYSE uses stock symbols of up to three letters for their listed companies. Companies listed on the NASDAQ exchange use four letters if the stock issued is common stock. Otherwise, they use five letters. The fifth letter has meaning. The table on the following page lists the fifth letter codes:
