stock

noun · Aktien

Aktien when stock is capital, Stammaktien for common, Vorzugsaktien for preferred, § 139 AktG letting the preference drop the vote, Vorräte when stock is inventory, § 266 Abs. 2 HGB. The machine picks by mood, and a stock transfer restriction lands on the warehouse gate as easily as on the share register.

Which translation, when

Aktienthe US stock in corporate senses, common stock die Stammaktien, preferred stock die Vorzugsaktien, § 139 AktG allowing the non-voting preference, Gattungen sorted by § 11 AktG.

Vorrätethe inventory sense, the stocks of a UK balance sheet, das Lager in the warehouse, die Vorräte on the Aktivseite, § 266 Abs. 2 HGB.

Why

Stock is a transatlantic homonym and both layers reach legal documents. In US drafting stock is equity, common stock die Stammaktien, preferred stock die Vorzugsaktien, and German law grades the species, § 11 AktG sorts Gattungen, § 12 Abs. 1 AktG gives every Aktie a vote and lets the preference shares drop it, § 139 AktG, while arrears can wake the vote again, § 140 Abs. 2 AktG, on terms the statute grades. In UK accounts, meanwhile, stocks are inventory, die Vorräte of § 266 Abs. 2 HGB on the asset side, which is also where the everyday warehouse sense lives, Lagerbestände, stock-take die Inventur. The institutions keep their own names across the divide, stock exchange die Börse, stock corporation die Aktiengesellschaft, and capital stock belongs to the share-capital world, Grundkapital, never to be crossed with Stammaktien, whose Stamm means common, not registered capital. So the translator sorts by side of the Atlantic and side of the balance sheet before touching the noun, because the machine sorts by scenery and ships the warehouse where the cap table was meant.

Typical mistakes

Stock transfer als Lagerübertragung ships the warehouse, the share register expected Aktienübertragung, and the homonym cuts both ways, UK balance-sheet stocks are Vorräte, § 266 Abs. 2 HGB.
Preferred stock is not preferred treatment at large, die Vorzugsaktie trades her vote for a dividend preference, § 139 AktG, and arrears can wake the vote again, § 140 Abs. 2 AktG, on terms the statute grades.
Common stock is Stammaktien, and Stammkapital is something else entirely, the GmbH’s registered capital, so the capital words must not cross-breed.

What matters

Cap-table translations meet the homonym head-on: the preferred stock converts reads die Vorzugsaktien, § 139 AktG, werden umgewandelt, while the year-end stocks of the UK accounts are die Vorräte, § 266 Abs. 2 HGB. One English noun, two balance-sheet sides, and the reader of Lagerbestände in a shareholders’ agreement should stop and check the source text.

Authority

§ 11 AktG
§ 12 Abs. 1 AktG
§ 139 AktG
§ 140 Abs. 2 AktG
§ 266 Abs. 2 HGB

What the machine misses

Stock swings between Aktien and Lager in machine output on scene cues alone, and legal documents mix the scenes, a stock transfer agreement full of delivery language reads like logistics to the engine. The transatlantic layer doubles the trap, UK stocks are inventory where US stock is equity, so the same word books on opposite sides of the balance sheet depending on who wrote the original.

Examples

common stock	die Stammaktien
preferred stock	die Vorzugsaktien
stock exchange	die Börse
stock levels	die Lagerbestände