Today, there are more than 2,000 companies whose common stocks are traded on the NYSE. The two elements of a company's capital structure are debt obligations and total shareholders' equity.

Growth stocks represent companies that increase sales and earnings faster than the market. The strong business performance inflates the stock price, creating big capital gains for shareholders.

Public companies are those whose stock can be bought and sold on the open market by anyone with an investment account. Every public company reports its financial performance to the Securities and ...