Market capitalization (
market cap) is the total market value of the shares outstanding of a
publicly traded company; it is equal to the
share price times the number of
shares outstanding. As outstanding
stock is bought and sold in public markets, capitalization could be used as a
proxy for the public opinion of a company's
net worth and is a determining factor in some forms of
stock valuation. The investment community uses this figure to determine a company's size, as opposed to sales or total asset figures.