Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• MARKET CAPITALIZATION
  
  Market capitalization is a measure of the value of a company, calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares in the company by the current stock price. For example, a company with 100 million shares of outstanding stock at a current market value of $25 a share would have a market capitalization of $2.5 billion. Market capitalization, or cap, is one of the criteria investors use to choose stocks, which are often categorized as small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap. Generally, large-cap stocks are considered the least volatile, and small caps the most volatile. The term market capitalization is sometimes used interchangeably with market value.
  
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