Market capitalization: what it is and how to read it

It is what the company is worth on the stock market: the price of one share times all the shares in issue. In theory, what it would cost to buy the whole company at today's price.

How it is calculated

Market cap = share price × number of shares outstanding.

How to read it

It tells you the company's size. MeridIAn groups them like this: mega caps, over $200 billion; very large, $50 to $200 billion; large, $10 to $50 billion; mid/small, under $10 billion. Large companies tend to be steadier and smaller ones more volatile.

Market capitalization in the MeridIAn ranking

Of the 2,130 companies in the ranking, 83 are mega caps (over $200 billion), 330 very large, 850 large and 867 mid or small caps. The median market cap is $13.0B.

The 5 largest

What to watch out for

It does not include debt: to know what the whole company would really cost, look at enterprise value (EV).

Related metrics

All metrics in the glossary → · Stocks by sector and country → · Ready-made screeners →

General information for educational purposes, not investment advice. Figures from the latest weekly analysis (Oct 8, 2026) with the latest available price.