For stocks of individual corporations, A-shares are typically those which carry some sort of preferential stockholder voting privileges and/or access to dividends. Also often called “preferred stock”, these shares will trade at a premium to their “common” stock counterparts.

The other common usage for the term relates to typical fee structures for US mutual funds. For A-shares of a mutual fund, the management fee-often called a “sales load”-is charged upon investing capital into the fund. This stands in contrast with B-shares, where fees are deducted by increased continuing fees and likewise by costs incurred when eventually selling the shares.

• C Corporation
• ticker symbol
• B shares