In public-company valuation, what is the total market value of all a company’s outstanding shares called?

In public-company valuation, the total market value of all a company’s outstanding shares is called market capitalization.

Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the current market price of one share by the total number of outstanding shares. Because share prices change throughout trading, a company’s market capitalization can change even when its share count stays constant.

Financial publications often use market capitalization to group companies into categories such as large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap. These labels are conventions rather than universal legal definitions, and their numerical boundaries can differ between markets.

Market capitalization is not the same as enterprise value. Enterprise value also considers debt and certain other claims while subtracting cash. Market capitalization is likewise different from book value, which is based on accounting records rather than the current market price investors assign to shares.