Market capitalization
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Market Capitalization, often abbreviated to Market Cap, is a measurement of corporate size that refers to the current stock price times the number of outstanding shares.
The total market capitalization of all the companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange is greater than the amount of money in the United States [1]. The global market capitalization for all stock markets was $43.6 trillion in March 2006 [2].
Contents |
[edit] Valuation
Market capitalization is the current valuation of a Company as determined by the stock price times the number of shares outstanding.
[edit] Categorization of companies by market cap
While there are no set definitions for market caps, a few terms are frequently used to group companies by capitalization.
In the U.S., companies and stocks are often categorized by the following approximate market capitalization values, regardless of the exchange they are traded on:
- Small-Cap: Market cap between $250 million and $1 billion.
- Mid-Cap: Market Cap between $1 billion and $10 billion.
- Large-Cap: Market Cap over $10 billion.
Micro Caps are generally referred to as stocks with a Market Cap below $250 million.
