Market Capitalization

Market capitalization is the public opinion of a company's net worth and is a determining factor in stock valuation. It is a market estimate of a company's value, based on perceived future prospects, economic and monetary conditions, and therefore largely independent of a company's history. The range of the capitalization are:

• Micro-Cap: capitalization below $250 million.
• Small-Cap: capitalization between approximately $250 million and $2 billion
• Mid-Cap: capitalization between approximately $2 billion and $10 billion
• Large-Cap or blue chip: capitalization over approximately $10 billion