Common stock

Common stock, also referred to as common or ordinary shares, are, as the name
implies, the most usual and commonly held form of stock in a corporation. The other
type of shares that the public can hold in a corporation is known as preferred stock.
Common stock that has been re-purchased by the corporation is known as treasury
stock and is available for a variety of corporate uses.
Common stock typically has voting rights in corporate decision matters, though
perhaps different rights from preferred stock. In order of priority in a liquidation of a
corporation, the owners of common stock are near the last. Dividends paid to the
stockholders must be paid to preferred shares before being paid to common stock
shareholders. [1]
[edit] Preferred stock
Preferred stock, sometimes called preferred shares, have priority over common
stock in the distribution of dividends and assets.
Most preferred shares provide no voting rights in corporate decision matters.
However, some preferred shares have special voting rights to approve certain
extraordinary events (such as the issuance of new shares, or the approval of the
acquisition of the company), or to elect directors. [2]
[edit] Dual class stock
Dual class stock is issued for a single company with varying classes indicating
different rights on voting and dividend payments. Each kind of share has its own
class of shareholders entitling different rights.
[edit] Treasury stock
Treasury stock are shares that have been bought back from public. Treasury Stock
is considered issued, but not outstanding.
[edit] Golden share
Golden share is a special share giving its holder a right to vote the Board's
decisions. Usually, a government owns golden shares of important enterprises that
were privatized. Golden shares are mostly used in European countries.

[edit] Stock derivatives

For more details on this topic, see equity derivatives.
A stock derivative is any financial claim which has a value that is dependent on
the price of the underlying stock. Futures and options are the main types of
derivatives on stocks. The underlying security may be a stock index or an
individual firm's stock, e.g. single-stock futures.
Stock futures are contracts where the buyer, or long, takes on the obligation to
buy on the contract maturity date, and the seller, or short takes on the obligation
to sell. Stock index futures are generally not delivered in the usual manner, but
by cash settlement.
A stock option is a class of option. Specifically, a call option is the right (not
obligation) to buy stock in the future at a fixed price and a put option is the right
(not obligation) to sell stock in the future at a fixed price. Thus, the value of a
stock option changes in reaction to the underlying stock of which it is a
derivative. The most popular method of valuing stock options is the Black
Scholes model [3].
Apart from call options granted to employees, most stock options are
transferable.