Ticker symbols used to have the literary flair of license plates. But now that the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq host more than 8,000 stocks, a ticker symbol has to be more than cryptic shorthand for traders. A good one can sum up a company in one word--and help it stand apart from its rivals. "Ticker symbols, along with Internet-domain names, have become part of the naming process of a new company," says S.B. Master of Master-McNeil, a naming and branding consulting firm in Berkeley, California. Consider: Sunglass Hut International catches RAYS. Rock Bottom Restaurants foams with BREW. Brothers Gourmet Coffee has BEAN grinding along since 1993. National Beverage no longer POPS up on the Nasdaq listing but is now the FIZ in the ASE. "Stock tickers are just beginning to catch up to 1-800 telephone numbers," according to Yale Hirsch, editor and publisher of The Stock Trader's Almanac. "Who can forget 1-800-ABCDEFG for Hooked on Phonics?"
With this in mind, companies today think long and hard about the ticker symbols they choose. As Tim George, director of finance and shareholder relations for Vermont Teddy Bear, says: "At first we thought we'd go with VTBC--we knew a BEAR market is bad. But BEAR is what we are. So we decided a BEAR market is a good thing."
