It’s often called stocks equity securities, and bonds debt securities. When an investor buys stocks from a listed company, they signify his or her partly ownership in the company as much as the stock value he or she owns.

 When issuing stocks, the issuer has to publicize the information about the company itself, the company’s commitments and basic rights for the stock buyers, etc. so that the investors can make right decisions whether to buy stocks or not. This kind of document is called the Prospectus or the Announcement of Information.