Ways of tracking Google's upcoming stock split
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A: Shoppers can't resist a good buy-one-get-one-free deal. Similarly, investors are often big fans of the stock split.
Stock splits are financial maneuvers that increase a company's shares outstanding by chopping the stock price. Investors often like stock splits because they see the number of shares that they own increase. Meanwhile, some individual investors are attracted to stock splits because the lower stock price makes the shares appear to be more affordable.
There are many reasons to question whether stock splits create any real value. The market value of the company, or the number of shares times the share price, remains the same after a stock split.
But you're not asking if stock splits create economic value. You just want to know how to track them. It's a valid question, since a stock split will affect all aspects of your portfolio tracking, including performance and tax management.
There are three top places to check for splits. They are:
•Stock charts. Nearly all stock chart services will place a marking of some sort on the chart to designate that a split was made. If the company has paid out dividends already, looking at a chart can be an easy way to pinpoint the splits.
USATODAY.com's Money section provides this split-tracking feature. Go to money.usatoday.com, scroll down a bit and enter the stock's symbol or company name into the Get a Quote blank and click the Go button. Next, click on the Charts tab. At the bottom of the chart, look for the "Splits" option and make sure it's checked off.
Google, however, hasn't paid a dividend and hasn't split its stock yet. So there's no dividend and split chart on its site.
•Company press releases. Companies will issue a press release announcing their stock split. Most will also submit a form 8-K to regulators, containing information about the split. Google put information about its upcoming stock split, which hasn't taken effect yet, in its first-quarter earnings release.
There's additional information about the split in a founder's letter. The letter is also available from the SEC's Edgar database.
The press release, so far, is the best source of information on Google's split. The letter shows the timing on Google's split is largely unknown. The biggest clue, though, is in the founder's letter where it indicates shareholder approval is required. The annual meeting is being held on June 21, so it's likely for the split to occur sometime after that.
Matt Krantz is a financial markets reporter at USA TODAY and author of Investing Online for Dummies and Fundamental Analysis for Dummies. He answers a different reader question every weekday in his Ask Matt column at money.usatoday.com. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com. Follow Matt on Twitter at: twitter.com/mattkrantz
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