Market Capitalization Definition, How To Find The Value Of A Company

Shobhit Seth is a freelance writer and an expert on commodities, stocks, alternative investments, cryptocurrency, as well as market and company news. In addition to being a derivatives trader and consultant, Shobhit has over 17 years of experience as a product manager and is the owner of FuturesOptionsETC.com. He received his master's degree in financial management from the Netherlands and his Bachelor of Technology degree from India.”>

Shobhit Seth is a freelance writer and an expert on commodities, stocks, alternative investments, cryptocurrency, as well as market and company news. In addition to being a derivatives trader and consultant, Shobhit has over 17 years of experience as a product manager and is the owner of FuturesOptionsETC.com. He received his master's degree in financial management from the Netherlands and his Bachelor of Technology degree from India.

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What Is Market Capitalization?

Market capitalization, or “market cap” is the aggregate market value of a company represented in dollar amount. Since it represents the “market” value of a company, it is computed based on the current market price (CMP) of its shares and the total number of outstanding shares, or the company”s “float”. Market cap is also used to compare and categorize the size of companies among investors and analysts.

Market capitalization is the total dollar value of all outstanding shares of a company at the current market price.Market cap is used to size up corporations and understand their aggregate market value.Companies may be categorized as large-, mid-, or small-cap depending on their market capitalization.Blue chip companies are often large-cap or mega-cap stocks, while the very smallest are referred to micro-caps.

Market Cap Calculation and Example

Market cap is calculated by multiplying a company”s outstanding shares by the current market price of one share.Since a company is represented by X number of shares, multiplying X with the per-share price represents the total dollar value of the company. Outstanding sharesreferto a company”s stockcurrently held by all its shareholders, including share blocks held by institutional investors and restricted shares owned by the company’s officers and insiders

MarketCap=PricePerShare×SharesOutstanding ext{Market Cap} = ext{Price Per Share} imes ext{Shares Outstanding}MarketCap=PricePerShare×SharesOutstanding

For example, if Cory”s Tequila Corp. was trading at $30 per share and had a million outstanding shares, its market capitalization would be ($30 x 1 million shares) = $30 million.

Since the market price of shares of a publicly-listed company keeps changing with each passing second, the market cap also fluctuates accordingly. The number of outstanding shares can also change over time. However, changes to the number of outstanding shares are infrequent, and the figure changes only when the company goes for certaincorporate actions like issuing additional shares through a secondary offering, exercising employee stock options(ESO), issuing/redeeming other financial instruments, or buying back its shares under ashare repurchaseprogram. Essentially, the changes in market cap are largely attributed to the share price changes, though investors should keep an eye on corporate-level developments that may change the number of outstanding shares once in a while.

Sizing Up Stocks: Different Types of Capitalization

Since capitalization represents a dollar value that can vary widely (from a few thousand dollars to above trillion dollars), different buckets and associated nomenclatures exist for categorizing the different market cap ranges. Following are the commonly used standards for each capitalization:

Both mega and large-cap stocks are referred to asblue chips and are considered to be relatively stable and secure. However, there is no guarantee of these companies maintaining their stable valuations as all businesses are subject to market risks. For instance, over the last one year period ending Sept. 28, 2019, the valuation of GE has tanked by almost 30 percent, while that of Apple has risen by around 105 percent.

Historical analysis reveals that mega- and large-caps often experience slower growth with lower risk, while small-caps have higher growth potential but come with higher risk. It is common to see companies making transitions from one category to the other depending upon the change in their market cap valuations on a regular basis. Along with companies, other popular investments like mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are also categorized assmall-cap,mid-cap,orlarge-cap. In the case of funds, the terms represent the types of stocks in which the fund primarily invests.

Importance of Market Capitalization

Some traders and investors, mostly novices, can mistake a stock”s price to be an accurate representation of that company’s worth, health, and/or stability. They may perceive a higher stock price as a measure of a company’s stability or a lower price as an investment available at a bargain. Stock price alone does not represent a company”s actual worth. Market capitalization is the correct measure to look at, as it represents the true value as perceived by the overall market.

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For instance, Microsoft with a stock price of $101.16 per share had a market cap of $814 billion as of October 10, 2018, while IBM, with a higher stock price of $142.69, had a lower market cap of $130 billion. Comparing the two companies by solely looking at their stock prices would not give a true representation of their actual relative values.

With billions of dollars worth of valuation, a large-cap company may have more room to invest a few hundred millions in a new stream of business and may not take a big hit if the venture fails. However, a mid-cap or micro-cap company making a similar value investment may be susceptible to big blows if their venture fails as they don’t have that bigger cushion to absorb the failure. If the venture succeeds for large-cap companies, it may appear small on their profit numbers. But if the company scales up with its success, it can lead to profits of larger magnitudes. On the other hand, the success of such ventures for a mid-cap company can bolster its valuations to significant heights.

A high stock price in and of itself does not always indicate a healthy or growing company. It can still have a relatively small market cap!

Valuations of mid-cap or small-cap companies often take the hit when there are reports of a large-cap company encroaching into their space of products or services. For instance, the entry of Amazon into cloud hosting services under the Amazon Web Services (AWS) umbrella has been posing a big threat to smaller companies operating in the niche space.

Generally, investments in mega-cap or large-cap stocks are considered more conservative with less volatility than investments in small-cap stocks. Though mid and small-cap stocks offer high return potential to risk-taking investors, the relatively limited resources at the disposal of such companies make their stocks more susceptible to competition, uncertainties, and business or economic downturn.

Market cap values also form the basis to launch a variety ofmarket indexes. For example, the benchmark equity index the S&P 500 index includes the top 500 U.S. companies which are weighted based on their market cap value, while the FTSE 100 index includes the top 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization. Such indexes not only represent the overall market developments and sentiments they are also used as benchmarks to track the performance of various funds, portfolios, and individual investments.

The Bottom Line

“Size Does Matter” and it does applyto the world of investing. An understanding of the market cap concept is important for not only the individual stock investor but alsoinvestorsof various funds. The market cap can help the investor to know where they are putting their hard-earned money.

Understanding things like market cap are important pieces to investing, but one of the first real steps is creating a brokerage investment account. Choosing a broker can be slightly intimidating with their range in prices and variety of features.

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