Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Give 'em an M

A company's ticker symbol is its identity in investment circles. Making it easy to remember is the goal. What's easier than "E'?

By HELEN HUNTLEY
Published February 3, 2005

Three pending megamergers are likely to free up some valuable property - a trio of single-letter ticker symbols on the New York Stock Exchange.

If the announced deals go through:

AT&T Corp. will give up its T when it becomes part of SBC Communications Inc.

Gillette Co. will drop its G when it becomes part of Procter & Gamble Co.

Sears, Roebuck & Co. will sacrifice the S it has held since 1928. Although Sears Holding Corp. will be the name of the surviving company after Kmart Holdings Corp. acquires Sears, the new company will trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market, where ticker symbols must have at least four letters. The decision became public Wednesday.

Ticker symbols date to the 1800s when telegraph operators began using them as a form of shorthand. One-letter symbols went to the most active stocks, which back then were mostly railroads.

Today a ticker symbol is a company's unique identifier in the world of investing. It is used to buy and sell stock or to get price quotes over the Internet. Companies consider it an advantage to have a symbol that's easy for investors, brokers and traders to remember.

Most companies on the New York and American Stock Exchanges have two- or three-letter symbols, while tickers on Nasdaq have four or five letters. But no more than 26 stocks can be identified by a single letter.

F (Ford Motor Co.), K (Kellogg Co.) and X (U.S. Steel Corp.) are among the most prominent single-letter tickers. A Florida company has taken R (Ryder Systems), while Italian and French companies have E (Eni SpA) and V (Vivendi Universal SA). Eight single-letter symbols are available: H, I, J, M, P, U, W and Z.

When a company applies for listing, exchanges generally try to accommodate its request for a particular ticker symbol as long as the symbol isn't taken. No two companies can have the same symbol in U.S. markets, and the New York and American exchanges say they cooperate to avoid duplication.

The NYSE Web site claims ticker symbols are assigned on a "first-come, first-served basis," but the process is not quite that straightforward. Many Wall Streeters believe the exchange is keeping I and M in reserve just in case Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. decide to leave Nasdaq for the NYSE. The exchange declines to comment on the issue.

Just as corporations are in flux, so are the symbols that represent them. Gillette snapped up its G when Greyhound Dial Corp. gave it up after selling off the bus company and dropping "Greyhound" from its name. Dial Corp. became DL while Greyhound became BUS. Another merger and name change later, neither of those symbols is in use.

Citigroup has its C because Chrysler Corp. traded it in for DCX after merging with Daimler-Benz AG to become DaimlerChrysler AG.

Having a ticker that fits with your company name can be more important than whether it has one letter or three or four. Most tickers relate in some way to a company's name or initials, such as JBL for Jabil Circuit and LNCR for Lincare Holdings.

Some companies opt for names that represent a primary product or business line. Two of the most famous in that department are BUD for Anheuser-Busch Cos. and COKE for Coca-Cola Bottling Co. There's CAKE for the Cheesecake Factory and EAT for Brinker International, which owns restaurants.

Some tickers are a little more obscure, such as MarineMax's choice of HZO. That's a play on H2O, the symbol for water, in case you've forgotten chemistry class. Catalina Marketing opted for POS, which stands for "point of sale," for those who aren't into marketing.

Unfortunately, having a memorable ticker symbol is no guarantee of investment performance, as any AT&T shareholder can attest.

Helen Huntley can be reached at huntley@sptimes.com or 727 893-8230.

Single-letter ticker symbols on the New York Stock Exchange:

A: Agilent Technologies Inc.

B: Barnes Group Inc.

C: Citigroup Inc.

D: Dominion Resources Inc.

E: Eni SpA

F: Ford Motor Co.

G: Gillette Co.

H: * (formerly Harcourt & General Inc.)

I: * (formerly First Interstate Bancorp)

J: * (formerly JNet Enterprises)

K: Kellogg Co.

L: Liberty Media Corp.

M: * (formerly M Corp.)

N: Inco Ltd.

O: Realty Income Corp.

P: * (formerly Phillips Petroleum Co.)

Q: Qwest Communications International Inc.

R: Ryder System Inc.

S: Sears, Roebuck & Co.

T: AT&T Corp.

U: * (formerly US Airways Group)

V: Vivendi Universal SA

W: * (formerly Westvaco Corp.)

X: United States Steel

Y: Alleghany Corp.

Z: * (formerly Foot Locker Inc.)

* Not in use. Last user is in parentheses.

[Last modified February 3, 2005, 01:07:17]