Preferred stock sits between bonds and common-stock. It pays a stated dividend, often quarterly, and that dividend must be paid before common holders get anything. Cumulative preferreds accrue skipped payments; non-cumulative ones do not. Most preferreds are callable by the issuer and carry no voting-rights.
Because the payment is fixed, preferreds trade mostly on interest rates and credit risk rather than on earnings growth. They rarely participate in a rally the way common does.
Example: a preferred issued at a $25 par value with a 6% coupon pays $1.50 a year. If comparable yields rise to 8%, the price drifts toward $18.75 ($1.50 / 0.08) even if the company's business is unchanged.
Related: common-stock, par-value, dividend