Dial M for Macy’s
In some ways, having a one-letter ticker symbol is considered prestigious - a sign that the company was able to stake an early claim on the stock market real estate. Whether true or not, Federated Department Stores is after one of the few remaining available letters following its planned name change to Macy’s.
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“M” was once thought to be reserved by the New York Stock Exchange for Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), which is listed on the Nasdaq Composite as “MSFT.”The letter was available, so that made it fair game for Federated, which has traded under the ticker symbol “FD” on the New York Stock Exchange since 1992.
Of the more than 3,100 companies whose stocks trade on the NYSE, the following one-letter symbols are available: G, I, J, L, N, P, U, V, W and Z.
Federated Chief Executive Terry Lundgren made it sound like it’s a positive change in corporate strategy rather than just a sexier, more attractive letter.
“Changing the parent company name to Macy’s Inc.,” Lundgren said in a news release, “while trading our shares under the ‘M’ ticker symbol will make it simple and clear for all investors to understand we are a brand-driven and consumer-oriented company.”
So just how prestigious is the honor? You be the guide as we scroll through the list of existing one-letter tickers. (We promise we are going only by memory - for the CNBC Trivia crowd, have some fun and try to fill in the blanks or catch us out if we are wrong!
A - Agilent
B - ?
C - Citigroup (formerly Chrysler until the Daimler thingy)
D - ?
E - ?
F - Ford
G - Not in use
H - ?
I - Not in use
J - used to be Jackpot, Inc. Were they bought?
K - Kellogg
L - Not in use
M - Soon to be Macy’s
N - Was Inco
O - ?
P - Not in use
Q - Qwest Communications
R - Ryder System
S - Sprint Nextel (used to be Sears)
T - AT&T
U - Not in use
V - Not in use
W - Not in use
X - US Steel
Y - ?
Z - Not in use
So… three telecom companies and a bunch of old line firms. You decide how prestigious it is, and comment below on our shortcomings.
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