Market Capitalization (Market Cap)

Market capitalization (or market cap) is the total dollar value of a company's outstanding shares of stock. It's calculated by multiplying the current stock price by the number of shares the company has issued. You'll see market cap everywhere when researching stocks—it's one of the first things listed on any financial site. Why? Because it tells you the company's size at a glance. A larger market cap generally means a more established, stable company, while smaller caps tend to be riskier but potentially faster-growing. For example, if TechCorp's stock trades at $50 per share and has 100 million shares outstanding, its market cap is $5 billion.