Market Cap

Market Cap or Market Capitalization is the market value of a publicly traded company's outstanding shares. Market capitalization is equal to the share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. Since outstanding stock is bought and sold in public markets, capitalization could be used as an indicator of public opinion of a company's net worth and is a determining factor in some forms of stock valuation. Market cap reflects only the equity value of a company. A firm's choice of capital structure has a significant impact on how the total value of a company is allocated between equity and debt. A more comprehensive measure is enterprise value (EV), which gives effect to outstanding debt, preferred stock, and other factors. For insurance firms, a value called the embedded value (EV) has been used. Market capitalization is used by the investment community in ranking the size of companies, as opposed to sales or total asset figures. It is also used in ranking the relative size of stock exchanges, being a measure of the sum of the market capitalizations of all companies listed on each stock exchange. In performing such rankings, the market capitalizations are calculated at some significant date, such as June 30 or December 31. The total capitalization of stock markets or economic regions may be compared with other economic indicators. The total market capitalization of all publicly traded companies in the world was US$51.2 trillion in January 2007 and rose as high as US$57.5 trillion in May 2008[5] before dropping below US$50 trillion in August 2008 and slightly above US$40 trillion in September 2008. In 2014 and 2015, global market capitalization was US$68 trillion and US$67 trillion, respectively.

Misconceptions About Market Caps
Although it is used often to describe a company, market cap does not measure the equity value of a company. Only a thorough analysis of a company's fundamentals can do that. It is inadequate to value a company because the market price on which it is based does not necessarily reflect how much a piece of the business is worth. Shares are often over- or undervalued by the market, meaning the market price determines only how much the market is willing to pay for its shares. Although it measures the cost of buying all of a company's shares, the market cap does not determine the amount the company would cost to acquire in a merger transaction. A better method of calculating the price of acquiring a business outright is the enterprise value.

Two main factors can alter company's market cap: significant changes in the price of a stock or when a company issues or repurchases shares. An investor who exercises a large number of warrants can also increase the amount of shares on the market and negatively affect shareholders in a process known as dilution.

Market Cap vs. Enterprise Value
A company's market cap can also be referred to as its equity value and takes into consideration only the value of its shares. A broader way of assessing a company's worth is enterprise value. To calculate a company's enterprise value, you add its market cap to the value of its outstanding preferred shares (if applicable), any minority interest in the company (if applicable), and the market value of its debt and then subtract its cash and equivalents. You can use enterprise value instead of market cap in common metrics for evaluating companies, such as price-to-earnings and price-to-sales ratios. Doing so may help you more accurately determine the worth of companies with large cash holdings.

• Market Cap Is a Good Way to Value Companies

Market cap is a relatively good way to quickly value a company. That's because stock prices are generally based on investors' expectations of a company's earnings. As earnings rise, stock traders will bid more for the stock price. Including the number of shares in the calculation offsets the impact of stock splits. Market cap would be a great way to value companies if they all had the same price to earnings ratio. Investors consider some industries to be slow growing or stodgy. Their stock prices are undervalued, and so are the market caps of companies in that industry. There are several other ways to determine the value of a company. One good way is to determine the net present value of its future cash flow, or income. This gives the buyer an idea of what the return on investment will be. If a company's market cap is lower than the net present value of its cash flow, then it is undervalue, and a candidate for takeover. Another more conservative approach is to determine the total resale price of all a company's assets. The drawback is that some assets would be difficult to value. Others may be worth more than their resale value. However, this is a good approach for a company that just wants to buy the company and sell off the assets for quick cash. During the "Greed is good" days of Ivan Boesky, many companies were worth much less than their resale value. Conversely, during the Internet bull market in 1999, many companies' capitalization values were worth far more than their income or asset value. Irrational exuberance drove stock prices beyond a reasonable valuation. When the tech bubble burst, it led to the recession of 2001.

See Also

Market Analysis
Market Cap
Market Driven Organization
Market Forces
Market Perform
Market Research
Market Saturation
Market Segmentation
Market Share
Market Value
Market Value Added (MVA)
Target Market
Time to Market
Capital Market
Efficient Market Hypothesis
Product/Market Fit
Product/Market Grid
Marketing
Marketing Effectiveness
Marketing Metrics
Marketing Mix 4P's 5P's
Marketing Operations Management (MOM)
Marketing Plan
Marketing Resource Management (MRM)
Marketing Strategy
4S Web Marketing Mix Model
5C's of Marketing Strategy
7 Ps of Marketing