can you buy one share of stock?

i've never owned stock, but was curious what the minimum # of shares you need to purchase is. I thought about getting a share or two of disney for my mom for xmas, and wondered if i can get away with just getting one share.

thanks

Check out:

http://www.oneshare.com


If you want to buy stock on a fixed dollar amount periodically check out: http://www.sharebuilder.com

Cheers!

...with Roy resigning today. Did it dip? If it did, very cool!

Another good small gift stock could be a candy company. See's Candy in California, for example.

at least in the 'olden days' you could. You pay a higher percentage commission to the broker, but you can do it (unless things have changed). My brother owned one share of American Cyanamid years and years ago. Each year, he'd get a dividend check for something like 10 cents.

they are in beds with the EPA head and the White House.

When you buy only a small number of shares, it takes a huge price swing to clear the transaction costs. If you just have to own a single share, most brokers will charge you just as much as if you bought a reasonable amount. I think it's foolish.

If you want to experiment with the market, put in a stop loss sale order at 10% of the purchase price. If you pay $63 a share, the stock will sell at 56.70 a share. That way you avoid calamities like paying $80 for Lucent only to see it drop to $2 and change.

Of course, if the stock goes up, you can change the stop loss to a higher amount. There's no worse feeling than seeing a winner turn into a loser.

84,000 dollars. Yipes.

a little more than i wanted to spend, but maybe next year.

thanks

share for abour $2800. Good deal, if you ask me.

which is a mere $573.00