Market Capitalization Calculator
From the share price and shares outstanding, compute a company's market capitalization.
Input Data
Results
At a glance:Market capitalization is the total market value of a company's equity: market cap = share price × shares outstanding. It sizes a listed company at its current stock price.
Formula
Market capitalization = share price × shares outstanding.
$$\\text{Market cap} = \\text{Share price} \\times \\text{Shares outstanding}$$How to Use
- Enter the current share price.
- Enter the shares outstanding.
- Read the company's market capitalization.
FAQ
What is the difference between market cap and enterprise value (EV)?
Market cap counts only the market value of the company's equity (price × shares) — the cost of buying all the shares. Enterprise value is the real price of acquiring the whole company: it adds net debt (total debt minus cash) on top of market cap, because the buyer takes on the debt but can use the cash to offset part of the cost. So for a cash-rich company, EV may be below the market cap; for a debt-heavy company, EV is above it. For M&A or valuation multiples like EV/EBITDA, EV reflects the true cost better.
Is a larger market cap always a better investment?
Not necessarily. Market cap only reflects size and the market's valuation of the equity, not the return. Large-caps are usually more mature, less volatile and more liquid, but may have limited growth; small-caps are more volatile and riskier but can offer bigger upside. Whether it is worth investing depends on profitability, growth prospects, valuation (P/E, P/B) and your own risk appetite. Market cap is just one dimension.
Why does the market cap keep changing?
Because market cap = price × shares, and the share price moves with every trade, reflecting the latest expectations about the company, its industry and the broader market. So the market cap changes by the second. The shares outstanding are relatively stable, changing only on corporate actions like new issues, buybacks or stock splits. In the short run, moves in market cap are mostly driven by the share price, i.e. sentiment and supply-demand, not a real-time change in intrinsic value.
How are large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap defined by market cap, and what about Hong Kong?
Splitting stocks by market cap into large/mid/small is one of the most common classifications, but note there is no single global standard — the thresholds vary by market, index provider and time, and are usually in the local currency. A rough mature-market reference (in USD): large-cap roughly above US$10bn, mid-cap about US$2bn–10bn, small-cap about US$300m–2bn (smaller still is micro-cap). In Hong Kong, in practice people often look at index membership: the Hang Seng Index (its constituents are the largest, most representative blue-chip large-caps), the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, and the relevant mid-cap indices. Each tier behaves differently: large-caps are mature, with stable earnings and cash flow, high liquidity and smaller swings but limited high-growth room; small-caps are more volatile, less liquid, sometimes less transparent and riskier, but may offer larger upside if you pick quality growth; mid-caps sit in between. Importantly, the size tier reflects only 'scale', not investment value — a large-cap is not automatically safer or better to buy, nor is a small-cap automatically more promising.
What is the difference between total market cap and free-float market cap, and which does an index use?
The difference is which shares are counted, and it matters for index construction. Total market cap = price × all shares outstanding — it includes every ordinary share and reflects the company's full equity value; this is what this calculator computes. Free-float market cap counts only the shares that can actually be traded freely in the market — it excludes locked-up holdings such as controlling shareholders' or founders' long-term stakes, government or strategic investors' holdings, treasury shares and shares under lock-up. Example: a company with a HK$10bn total market cap where the founding family holds 60% and never sells has only about 40% truly free-floating, so its free-float market cap is about HK$4bn. This matters because most market-cap-weighted indices (such as the Hang Seng Index and many international ones) use free-float market cap, not total, to set constituent weights — it better reflects the actually investable and tradable scale and avoids over-weighting tightly held companies whose shares do not trade. So when sizing a company overall you look at total market cap, but for index weights and tradable liquidity, free-float is usually more meaningful. This calculator gives the total market cap.
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References
Content review: Calculatorism Finance Team. Results are for reference only; please refer to the relevant authorities for the official figures.