Stock abbreviations: Here's how to decipher them

— -- Q: While looking up some stocks in the print edition of USA TODAY I can't figure out what some of the companies are. I know "Ekodak" stands for Eastman Kodak, but what is "ProUltRE?"

A: USA TODAY, like most newspapers, abbreviates the names in its stock tables.

Sometimes the abbreviations aren't so intuitive. And that's especially the case with small, lesser-known companies or with some exchange-traded funds, or ETFs.

ETFs are mutual-fund like baskets of stocks that have stock ticker symbols and trade like stocks. Usually when readers see a company in USA TODAY's stock listings that they don't recognize, it's because it's not a company stock, but an ETF.

When you see a stock's abbreviation you don't recognize in the newspaper, USATODAY.com is the often the quickest way to figure it out. Go to money.usatoday.com and scroll down. On the left-hand side of the page under the stock indexes chart, you'll see a box labeled "Get a quote."

But it doesn't always work. With ProShares Ultra Real Estate just entering "pro" unfortunately doesn't get the result you're looking for.

If you can't find the stock at USATODAY.com, you can go to the Associated Press website and put the abbreviation in the Ticker/Stub Lookup function on this page. AP provides stock listings for most newspapers, including USA TODAY.