Why people buy one share of a company?

Question

i saw in annual reports that some people hold only one share in the total share capital.

Answer 1

If it's google, that one share cost about $500.

If it's Quest, the share cost $8.

My mother will often buy very small amounts. I told her that the trading fees will kill her, but she likes the excitement.

Answer 2

Depends on the Annual reports you were looking at, but there are many reasons that someone would buy just 1 share.

1) The share was a gift from another shareholder. I have given 1 share of stock as a gift to family members before and if they never buy additional stock, which most of them never did, then they only have 1 share.

2) They are looking to get into a Dividend Reinvestment Program (DRiP). Some companies offer these programs where shareholders may buy additional shares with no commisions or services charges. And in many of these plans you need only 1 share of the company to get started.

3) The one share is a significant ammount of money Google which is $504 at the close yesterday or Berkshire Hathaway BRK.a, which is $108,850 for a single share of stock. (By the way if you can't afford $108,850 to buy a single share Berkshire Hathaway has a B-share of stock that is a cheap $3,619 per share).

4) Some people collect Stocks certificates and hang them on thier walls. I have done this myself and have framed shares of K-Mart and United Airlines before they went bankrupt.

There may be many other reasons as well, but these are 4 reasons that I have had personal experience with.

Answer 3

What happens if you buy lots of shares in a company, and the company goes bad? Basically you can watch your money go down the drain, and that's only if you keep close watch on it.

What happens if you buy a small number of shares in a lot of different companies? If one goes bad, only a small percentage of your assets are lost, while the profits being made on the others make up for it. If your choice in profitable, stable companies is good, then you'll make money regardless of what the market is doing (unless it crashes). You must accept that noone is perfect, especially the companies, so having a broad portfolio is generally accepted as better stock trading practice among any broker you speak to.

Now, hypothetically, if you wanted the $ value of your portfolio to be even for every investment, then the number of shares would vary depending on the share price of each company on the market. $500 for example, may buy 1 share, or 100 000 shares, depending where you place your money.

In the same way, if you wanted the number of shares to be even across your portfolio, some stock purchases would cost millions, while others cost a fraction of a cent.

The global stock trading market is mind bogglingly huge. It's like trying to comprehend the number of earth worms alive today, or the number of stars in the universe. Now imagine you placed a tiny fraction of your life savings into each facet of that universe. If anything went wrong in one place, the counteracting benefits awarded to the people benefiting from the people that lost are in part going to shareholders of the gaining company, government, organisation or charity.

All you need to do is predict the future.
Good luck. I reckon you'll need it!

Answer 4

A very successful investor I once met was doing that if he became interested in a company because he felt that psychologically his mind didn't make the distinction between the size of his investment. And he felt that once he had a position is the stock his thinking became a lot sharper. If, after a while, he still would feel the stock was a good opportunity, he would buy a lot more.

Answer 5

They get all the annual reports and other info sent out by the co. and they can attend the annual meeting and make a nuisance of themselves.

Answer 6

Grandmothers usually buy one share for their grandchildren.

Answer 7

bcoz its there will
if they want they do it if
the dont they dont do it