Click here to find out the top S&P 500 components ordered by average analyst rating »
Market capitalization is an important data point for investors to keep an eye on, for various reasons. The most basic reason is that it gives a true comparison of the value attributed by the stock market to a given company’s stock.
Many beginning investors look at one stock trading at $10 and another trading at $20 and mistakenly think the latter company is worth twice as much — that of course is a completely meaningless comparison without knowing how many shares of each company exist.
But comparing market capitalization (factoring in those share counts) creates a true “apples-to-apples” comparison of the value of two stocks. In the case of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN), the market cap is now $6.39 billion, versus Masco Corp. (NYSE: MAS) at $6.29 billion.
Click here to find out The 20 Largest U.S. Companies By Market Capitalization »
Below is a chart of Tyson Foods, Inc. versus Masco Corp. plotting their respective size rank within the S&P 500 over time (TSN plotted in blue; MAS plotted in green):
more, including charts