When shares are first issued.......?

Question

What are they called?

Where is the best place to get info about first issues?

Answer 1

that's an initial public offering (IPO).  

the best place to get info is on www.sec.gov, and check for the prospectus, which provides tons of info regarding the company's operations, financial situation, details regarding the stock offering, etc.

or google the company name with the word 'prospectus', and you'll find it.

individual investors usually do not get good prices on IPOs, because the institutional investors are already lined up to get the shares.  by the time an individual investor gets the shares, hte stock price is usually already really high and ready to come back down a bit - atleast in the short run.   this is well documented.  IPOs are typically not a good opportunity for individual investors to make money.

Answer 2

Initial Public Offerings.