Things You'll Need:
- A Google/Gmail account, and a computer with Internet Access.
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Step 1
Log in to your Google/Gmail account.
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Step 2
Click on "More" at the top of the page, then select "Documents" from the drop down box.
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Step 3
Click on "Create New" in the top left area of the page, then select "Spreadsheet".
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Step 4
You should use the first row to create row labels - "Company", "Ticker Symbol", "P/E Ratio", etc.
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Step 5
In the first column, type names of companies that you are interested in tracking - For example, "Apple', "Google", "Cisco", etc.
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Step 6
You can then find ticker symbols in one easy step... In cell B2, type "=GoogleLookup(A2, "ticker")".
A2 references the company name in that cell. The "ticker" tells the spreadsheet to find the company's ticker symbol.
If you are searching for a company with different types of stock, you may want to double-check these. Simply click in the cell, then click on "More Options" in the box that appears. You will then see a few options that Google's search engine finds. Simply select the one you want to track. -
Step 7
Then, simply click on the cell you entered the formula into, then drag it down to the bottom of the list.
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Step 8
To find the stock price, use the following formula: "=GoogleFinance(B2, "price")"
Be sure to include the quotes around "price".
For other attributes, use the list below:
price: market price of the stock - delayed by up to 20 minutes.
priceopen: the opening price of the stock for the current day.
high: the highest price the stock traded for the current day.
low: the lowest price the stock traded for the current day.
volume: number of shares traded of this stock for the current day.
marketcap: the market cap of the stock.
tradetime: the last time the stock traded.
datadelay: the delay in the data presented for this stock using the googleFinance() function.
volumeavg: the average volume for this stock.
pe: the Price-to-Earnings ratio for this stock.
eps: the earnings-per-share for this stock.
high52: the 52-week high for this stock.
low52: the 52-week low for this stock.
change: the change in the price of this stock since yesterday's market close.
beta: the beta value of this stock.
changepct: the percentage change in the price of this stock since yesterday's close.
closeyest: yesterday's closing price of this stock.
shares: the number of shares outstanding of this stock.
currency: the currency in which this stock is traded. -
Step 9
Now, you can sort this list by any attribute you want by simply highlighting the column you want to sort by, then click on "Tools". A drop down box will appear, from which you can select "Sort by Column B from A-Z", or from Z-A.
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Step 10
If you want to track historical values, you have several options. My preferred option is to highlight the entire spreadsheet, select EDIT --> COPY, then open a new sheet in the bottom left hand corner of the page.
Go to the new sheet, then select EDIT --> Paste Values only.
Then your original sheet will continue to provide up to date prices, P/E ratios, etc., while the new sheet you created will be "frozen in time". I would recommend naming the new sheet the date in which the values are as of. You can add as many sheets as you want.
