Lidl Stock: Can You Buy Lidl Stock and Will They Go Public?

Lidl is a family-owned private company with a small number of shareholders. Unlike Amazon, Best Buy, and Tesco, Lidl’s stocks are not listed on any Stock Exchange. A Stock Exchange, or Stock Market, is a marketplace where traders buy and sell stocks or shares.

Since Lidl’s stocks don’t exist on Stock Exchanges, that means you can’t buy them. So the store most likely relies on investments, general sales, or loans to generate funds. 

If you’re curious as to why Lidl doesn’t want to go public with its stocks, keep reading. We’ll also explain what a stock is. 

What is a stock? 

A stock is a collection of shares in one or multiple companies. You might hear those terms being used interchangeably often. But they’re not the same thing. Let’s make it clearer.

Stocks

The Financial Times Stock Exchange iPhone app

Whenever you buy shares, it’s like buying a piece of a company. Now imagine you bought a large percentage of shares from one or multiple companies. That means you now own stocks. So “stock” is a collective term for shareholders who have accumulated a big portion of company shares.

If you say, “I own stocks”, what that should tell anybody is that you have plenty of shares in one or several companies. Depending on the type of stock you buy, you may earn a seat with the decision-makers of that company, get paid before lower shareholders, or receive higher interests. You may also receive your earnings monthly, quarterly, or annually. 

Shares

AMC Entertainment shares value displayed on an iPhone app

Shares are small units or pieces of a stock. Basically, stocks are split into shares. They tell people exactly how many shares you have and in what company. For example, you can say, “I have 100 shares in Lidl”. It means you own a small percentage of Lidl’s total stocks. 

Overall, shareholders and stakeholders usually buy and sell on a Stock Exchange Market. E.g., New York Stock Exchange. The market allows interested investors to monitor the supply and demand of those listed shares. The higher percentage of shares you acquire, the higher your returns.

Can you buy Lidl stock?

As aforementioned, you can’t buy Lidl stock. Here’s why; Lidl is a family-owned private stock company. Though the company hasn’t made an official statement to address why it won’t take its stocks public, we can guess why. It’s part of the company’s business model to keep its vision in the bloodline. 

Parking lot view of Lidl supermarket building

Josef Schwarz founded the store in 1973 and then handed it over to his son, Dieter Schwarz. Now Dieter is the CEO of the Schwarz Group. He has since been expanding the store’s across Europe and the United States of America. 

Whether the company plans to make its stocks public in the future is unknown. But you shouldn’t count on it. It’s improbable that the company will make that change any time soon. While this is disappointing news, there are other company stocks you can invest in.

What other company stocks can I invest in?

Since you can’t buy Lidl’s stocks, invest in Walmart instead. Walmart is a public company and has been trading since 1970. That’s almost the same time as Lidl was founded. The store is currently the largest retailer in 2022, making it a viable option for investment. Walmart stocks are listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol WMT. 

Another store you can invest in is Kroger. Kroger is a large chain of supermarkets, and as of January 20, 2022, the store’s net worth was $35.72 billion. You can find Kroger’s stocks on the New York Stock Exchange with the symbol KR. 

But before buying stocks, ensure to do your homework first. It’s understandable that you want to leap headfirst into investing in big-name companies like Walmart and Kroger. 

However, it would be best to take your time to analyze and review the company’s financial reporting and debt level. It will tell you whether the company’s revenue is increasing or declining and how much it is owing. Even Amazon has debts. 

So it would be disastrous for you to invest in a stock where the company’s debt is putting pressure on the profit, even after seeing the signs beforehand. Overall, never rely on popularity as a sign for you to invest. Not all famous companies are profitable.


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