Most countries have a stock-exchange where you can trade the stocks of the various companies. If you are starting the investment game, the stock market just looks like a raw list of data (The list below represents the IBEX 35 which is the stock index of the Stock-Exchange of Madrid (source: www.bolsamadrid.es/esp/mercados/acciones):
ABERTIS SE.A
ACCIONA ACERINOX
ACS ALTADIS
ANTENA 3 TV.
ARCELOR
BA.POPULAR
BA.SABADELL
BANKINTER
BBVA
BSCH
CINTRA
ENAGAS
ENDESA
FCC
FERROVIAL
GAMESA
GAS NATURAL
IBERDROLA
IBERIA
INDITEX
INDRA A
METROVACESA
NH HOTELES
PRISA
R.E.E.
REPSOL YPF
SACYR VALLE.
SOGECABLE
TELECINCO
TELEFONICA
TELF.MOVILES
TPI
UNION FENOSA
If you take a closer look by adding some company information for each stock you could present the same list but sorted in a different way using (sector) categories. Which could look like the list below:
Companies in the area of infrastructure and communication:
Construction and real estate sector:
Companies in the area of commodities (Steel)
Tobacco industry:
Entertainment, broadcasting (information distribution):
Financial services
Energy sector:
Transport and distribution:
(Industrial) Production:
Business services