Market Capitalization Calculator
Compute a company's market capitalization and enterprise value in seconds using share price and balance-sheet data. Use it when comparing companies of different sizes or evaluating acquisition targets.
About this calculator
Market capitalization is the total market value of a company's outstanding equity: Market Cap = Share Price × Shares Outstanding. While market cap reflects what investors currently pay for the equity, enterprise value (EV) provides a more complete picture of a firm's total worth by adjusting for capital structure: EV = Market Cap + Total Debt − Cash & Cash Equivalents. The debt is added because an acquirer would assume it; cash is subtracted because it could immediately offset that debt. EV is the standard metric used in ratios like EV/EBITDA and EV/Revenue for cross-company comparisons. Company size categories — nano, micro, small, mid, large, and mega cap — are defined by conventional market-cap thresholds and influence investor risk appetite, index inclusion, and analyst coverage.
How to use
Suppose a company's shares trade at $25, with 200 million shares outstanding, $500 million in total debt, and $150 million in cash. First, calculate market cap: Market Cap = $25 × 200,000,000 = $5,000,000,000 ($5 billion). Then calculate enterprise value: EV = $5,000,000,000 + $500,000,000 − $150,000,000 = $5,350,000,000 ($5.35 billion). With a $5B market cap, this company falls in the large-cap category. The EV of $5.35B is what a buyer would effectively pay to own the entire business free and clear of net debt.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between market capitalization and enterprise value?
Market capitalization represents only the equity value of a company — what all shares are worth at the current price. Enterprise value expands this by adding debt (which must be repaid) and subtracting excess cash (which reduces the net cost), giving a truer picture of the total cost to acquire a business. Two companies with identical market caps can have very different enterprise values if their debt levels differ significantly. For this reason, EV-based multiples like EV/EBITDA are preferred over price-based multiples for capital-structure-neutral comparisons.
How are large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap categories defined?
While definitions vary slightly by source, the most widely used thresholds are: mega-cap above $200 billion, large-cap between $10 billion and $200 billion, mid-cap between $2 billion and $10 billion, small-cap between $300 million and $2 billion, micro-cap between $50 million and $300 million, and nano-cap below $50 million. These categories matter because they influence index membership (e.g., S&P 500 requires large-cap status), analyst coverage, trading liquidity, and typical investor risk profiles. Institutional investors often have mandates restricting them to certain size categories.
Why does cash get subtracted when calculating enterprise value?
Cash and cash equivalents are subtracted from enterprise value because they represent liquid assets an acquirer can immediately use to offset the purchase price. Imagine buying a business for $10 million that holds $2 million in cash — your effective net outlay is only $8 million. Including cash in EV without adjustment would overstate the true cost of the acquisition. Some analysts also subtract short-term investments for the same reason, though the treatment of restricted cash or strategic reserves varies by convention and deal structure.