diff --git a/plugins/stock.py b/plugins/stock.py
index 7389547..4af6665 100644
--- a/plugins/stock.py
+++ b/plugins/stock.py
@@ -5,31 +5,32 @@ from util import hook, http
 
 @hook.command
 def stock(inp):
-    '''.stock <symbol> -- returns information on a stock symbol'''
+    '''.stock <symbol> -- gets information about a stock symbol'''
 
     url = 'http://www.google.com/ig/api?stock=%s'
 
     parsed = http.get_xml(url, stock=inp)
 
     if len(parsed) != 1:
-        raise IOError('Error using the stock API')
+        return "error getting stock info"
 
     # Stuff the results in a dict for easy string formatting
-    results = {}
-    for elm in parsed.find("finance"):
-        results[elm.tag] = elm.get("data")
+    results = dict((el.tag, el.attrib['data']) for el in parsed.xpath('//finance/*'))
 
-    # if we dont get a company name back, the symbol doesnt match a company
-    if results['company'] == "":
-        return "Unknown ticker symbol %s" % inp
+    # if we dont get a company name back, the symbol doesn't match a company
+    if results['company'] == '':
+        return "unknown ticker symbol %s" % inp
 
-    if results['change'][1] == '-':
+    if results['change'][0] == '-':
         results['color'] = "5"
     else:
         results['color'] = "3"
 
-    format_str = "%(company)s - %(last)s %(currency)s "                   \
-                  "\x03%(color)s%(change)s (%(perc_change)s)\x03 "        \
-                  "as of %(trade_timestamp)s (delayed %(delay)s minutes)"
+    ret = "%(company)s - %(last)s %(currency)s "                   \
+          "\x03%(color)s%(change)s (%(perc_change)s)\x03 "        \
+          "as of %(trade_timestamp)s" % results
 
-    return format_str % results
+    if results['delay'] != '0':
+        ret += " (delayed %s minutes)" % results['delay']
+
+    return ret