Are shares and stock the same thing?

Question

Sometimes people say shares , and sometimes they say stocks? Are these different or the same? stocks vs. shares?

Answer 1

Stocks are companies, or groups of companies.  Like microsoft.  you can buy shares of stocks.  So, microsoft usually goes for about $32 per share.  If you pay $3200 you get 1000 shares of microsoft.  If the stock goes up $1 you get $1 per share that you own.

Answer 2

They are often used interchangably.

But, they have a slightly different nuance.

I would say

I own shares in IBM.

I own IBM stock.

I own the stocks of many companies

I own shares in many companies.

I own many shares of IBM stock.

and so on.

Answer 3

shares are from the stock..but people use them the same way...they are talking about the same thing, yes