Market capitalisation
The market value of all a company's shares: share price multiplied by the number of shares.
Formula
\text{Market capitalisation} = \text{Share price} \times \text{Number of shares}Taken from the last trade price and the share count on the instrument card. The figure is computed for today; we hold no historical capitalisation and will not substitute today's for it.
How to read the number
It is the numerator of P/E, P/B and EV/EBITDA, and it determines a security's weight in an index.
When the metric lies
Capitalisation counts every share, not only the traded ones. A company with a low free float can carry a large capitalisation while only a small part actually changes hands.
Also known as: market capitalisation, market cap