How to buy Canon stock | 15.5

Canon Inc is a computer hardware business based in the US. Canon shares (CAJ) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Canon employs 187,041 staff and has a market cap (total outstanding shares value) of USD$16.9 billion.

How to buy shares in Canon

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Canon. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: CAJ. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Canon reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$15.5, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Canon, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Canon. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Canon's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Canon's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$15.5, which is 37.17% down on its pre-crash value of USD$24.67 and 23.42% down on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$19.13.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Canon shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$765.33 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$586.68.

Canon share price

Use our graph to track the performance of CAJ stocks over time.

Canon shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-14.

Latest market close	USD$15.5
52-week range	USD$15.9 - USD$28.41
50-day moving average	USD$16.6074
200-day moving average	USD$19.0638
Wall St. target price	USD$13.33
PE ratio	25.5188
Dividend yield	USD$0.75 (4.73%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$1.982

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Is it a good time to buy Canon stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Canon Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Canon price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $15.5 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2020-10-22)	-4.67%
1 month (2020-09-29)	-6.46%
3 months (2020-07-29)	-10.92%
6 months (2020-04-29)	-26.71%

1 year (2019-10-29)	-41.90%
2 years (2018-10-29)	-44.62%
3 years (2017-10-27)	-58.70%
5 years (2015-10-29)	-48.54%

Is Canon under- or over-valued?

Valuing Canon stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Canon's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Canon's P/E ratio

Canon's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 26x. In other words, Canon shares trade at around 26x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Canon's PEG ratio

Canon's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 2.025. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Canon's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Canon financials

Gross profit TTM	USD$1,610 billion
Return on assets TTM	1.57%
Return on equity TTM	3.07%
Profit margin	2.21%
Book value	$23.909
Market capitalisation	USD$16.9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Canon shares

There are currently 2.3 million Canon shares held short by investors – that's known as Canon's "short interest". This figure is 6.9% down from 2.5 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Canon shares can be evaluated.

Canon's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Canon's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Canon shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Canon shares traded daily (recently around 607428.31168831). Canon's SIR currently stands at 3.85. In other words for every 100,000 Canon shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3850 shares are currently held short.

However Canon's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Canon shares, or, against the total number of tradable Canon shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Canon's short interest could be expressed as 0% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Canon shares in existence, roughly 0 shares are currently held short) or 0% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Canon shares, roughly 0 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Canon.

Find out more about how you can short Canon stock.

Canon share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 180.38% of net profits

Recently Canon has paid out, on average, around 180.38% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 4.73% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Canon shareholders could enjoy a 4.73% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Canon's case, that would currently equate to about $0.75 per share.

Canon's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Canon's most recent dividend payout was on 7 April 2017. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 26 June 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Canon's shares ever split?

Canon's shares were split on a 3:2 basis on 28 August 2006. So if you had owned 2 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 3 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Canon shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 33.3% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Canon shares which in turn could have impacted Canon's share price.

Canon share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Canon's shares have ranged in value from as little as $15.9 up to $28.41. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Canon's is 0.7174. This would suggest that Canon's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Canon overview

Canon Inc. manufactures and sells office multifunction devices (MFDs), plain paper copying machines, laser and inkjet printers, cameras, diagnostic equipment, and lithography equipment. The company operates through four segments: Office Business Unit, Imaging System Business Unit, Medical System Business Unit, and Industry and Others Business Unit. The Office Business Unit segment offers office MFDs, printers, and copying machines for personal and office use; production print products for print professionals; and laser multifunction and laser printers, digital continuous feed presses, digital sheet-fed presses, wide-format printers, and document solutions, as well as software, services, and solutions. The Imaging System Business Unit segment provides interchangeable-lens digital cameras, digital compact cameras, interchangeable lenses, compact photo printers, inkjet printers, large format inkjet printers, commercial photo printers, image scanners, and calculators. The Medical System Business Unit segment offers digital radiography systems, diagnostic X-ray systems, computed tomography systems, magnetic resonance imaging systems, diagnostic ultrasound systems, clinical chemistry analyzers, and ophthalmic equipment. The Industry and Others Business Unit segment provides semiconductor lithography equipment, flat panel display lithography equipment, vacuum thin-film deposition equipment, organic light-emitting diode panel manufacturing equipment, die bonders, network cameras, digital camcorders, digital cinema cameras, multimedia projectors, broadcast equipment, micromotors, handy terminals, and document scanners. The company also provides maintenance services; and supplies replacement drums, parts, toners, and papers. It sells its products under the Canon brand through subsidiaries or independent distributors to dealers and retail outlets, as well as directly to end-users globally. Canon Inc. was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Canon is owned by institutions?

  Currently 1.272% of Canon shares are held by institutions.

• How many people work for Canon?

  Latest data suggests 187,041 work at Canon.

• When does the fiscal year end for Canon?

  Canon's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Canon based?

  Canon's address is: 30-2, Shimomaruko 3-chome, Tokyo, Japan, 146-8501

• What is Canon's ISIN number?

  Canon's international securities identification number is: US1380063099

• What is Canon's CUSIP number?

  Canon's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 138006309