what is prefered stock?

Answer 1

It is a class of stock that has a "preference" of some kind when it comes to dividing profits. There are many ways it can be expressed.

It generally means that they get their dividend FIRST, whether Common gets any or not. If there's no money for dividends that year, the question is whether it is "cumulative", meaning that if they don't pay this year, they have to make it up next year before paying Common, or "non cumulative" meaning it starts at zero each year, and also whether it is "participating", which means that if there is a LOT of dividend money, is the preferred dividend an upper limit or do they get more in flush years.