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If you're just starting out learning how the stock market works, reading the stock tables in the paper can be confusing. Learning how to read stocks won't take much time, though, and it's very important.

To begin, you'll notice that there are about twelve columns across the table, and each stock has its own line. To find out how the stock has been performing over the past year, look at the first two columns-- these will be labeled something to the effect of "52W High" and "52W Low." The names are pretty suggestive; "52W High" reveals the highest value the stock has reach in the past 52 weeks. Its lowest value shows up in the "52W Low."

In the follow column you'll see the actual name of the stock. This will be followed by another column that shows the stock's ticker symbol. Each stock has a unique combination of letters. You will probably recognize some of these from the tickers that run across the bottom of the screen sometimes on the cable news networks.

Speaking of which, watching the financial shows on these networks will give you further help on how to read stocks and other aspects of the stock market.

"Div" is the column that comes after the ticker column. From this column, you see how much in annual dividends the stock pays out for every share. If you see a blank space in this column, that means the stock doesn't pay dividends right now. The percentage return on the dividend shows up in the "Yield %" column, though it too will be blank if the stock doesn't pay out dividends.

The earnings ratio is indicated by P/E. You get this number by dividing the current stock price by the earnings per share for the last four quarters.

"High" and "Low" are the next two columns. These are the highest and lowest points that the stock reached in the day's trading. "Net Change" shows the change from the day before; "Close" tells you the point when the stock closed for the day.

You'll be able to move on and learn even more about the stock market once you have a basic understanding of how to read stocks.