Stock price is an indicator of a company's market value, but the price of a share of stock will also depend on the number of shares outstanding. The reason why certain stocks are priced so high is usually due tothe company having never or rarely having completeda stock split.
There are many ways to evaluate a stock in addition to its absolute share price. Here, we take a look at some of the largest companies in the U.S. and abroad.
Key Takeaways
Companies are typically valued by their total market capitalization on a stock exchange, or number of shares outstanding times the share price.
Still, many investors are interested in the most pricey shares available on an exchange, which can indicate exclusivity.
Companies can also be ranked by revenue and profitability.
Top Companies by Stock Price
The most expensive publicly traded share of all time is Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), which was trading at $458,675 per share, as of January 2022. Berkshire hit an all-time high on Jan. 18, 2022, at $487,255. Thanks to spectacular shareholder gains and the idiosyncrasies of its founder, this share value is unlikely to be matched by anything other than continued gains in Berkshire’s share price.
The next company behind Berkshire, in terms of nominal share price, is NVR (NVR) at $5,154.98 per share as of January 2022. Then there is the Seaboard Corporation (SEB), which was trading at $3,731.02, and Amazon.com (AMZN) at $2,852.86, followed by Alphabet, Inc (GOOG) at $2,607.03 a share.
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How Warren Buffett Made Berkshire A Winner
Top Companies by Market Cap
By market capitalization, as of January 2022, Apple (AAPL) is the biggest company at $2.652 trillion, followed by Microsoft (MSFT) at $2.222 trillion, Google (GOOGL) at $1.725 trillion, Amazon.com (AMZN) at $1.446 trillion, Tesla (TSLA) at $947.92 billion, and Meta (META), formerly Facebook, at $843.34 billion.
Back in 2007, Chinese energy giantPetroChina(PTR) reached an estimatedmarket valueof around $1 trillion. However, this valuation didn't stick. As of January 2022, PTR's market capitalization stood at just $146.95 billion.
Top Companiesby Revenue
In terms of the biggest global companies by revenue, Walmart (WMT) comes in as number one—according to the Fortune 500 list. Walmart's revenues were $523,964 billion in 2021. Behind Walmart was State Grid with $383,906 billion in revenues, followed by Amazon with $280,522 billion, and China National Petroleum at $379,130 billion.
Sinopec Group ranks fifth with $407,009 billion in annual revenues, and the sixth and seventh spots are covered by Apple and CVS Health with $260,174 billion and $256,776 billion in yearly revenues, respectively.
Based on only U.S.-headquartered companies' 2020 performance, Walmart still has the top spot, while Amazon comes in second. Exxon Mobil ranks third and Apple ranks fourth. Healthcare companies take up the fifth, seventh, and eighth spots: CVS, UnitedHealth Group, and McKesson, generating $256.78 billion, $242.15 billion, and $231.05 billion, respectively.
Berkshire Hathaway ranks sixth with $254.62 billion in annual revenues, and the ninth and tenth spotsare covered by AT&T and AmerisourceBergen at $181.19 billion and $179.59 billion in yearly revenues, respectively.
Based on only U.S.-headquarteredcompanies' 2019 performance, Walmart still has the top spot, while ExxonMobil (XOM) comes in second with $290.21 billion a year in revenues. Apple ranks third with $265.59 billion and Berkshire Hathaway fourth with $247.84 billion. Healthcare companies take up the sixth through eighth spots: UnitedHealth Group, McKesson, and CVS, generating $226.25 billion, $214.32 billion, and $194.58 billion, respectively.
Top Private Companies
In terms of private companies, Forbesranks Minnesota-based Cargill as the largest private U.S. company with $134.4 billion in annual revenues. The company has 155,000 employees. Second is Koch Industries with $115 billion in revenues and 122,000 employees. Ranking third is the grocery chainPublix Super Markets, with $44.9 billion in annual revenue and 227,000 employees.
The fourth and fifth largest private companies are Mars and H-E-B, which generate $40 billion and $32.8 billion, respectively. Each employs over 100,000 employees.
The Bottom Line
On a pure market value measure, Apple has often been considered the most valuable, publicly traded company of all time. Although Microsoft did briefly hit the $2 trillion market cap mark in June2021. It is certainly possible another company’s market cap will exceed these measures, and maybe—though less likely—another company will surpassBerkshire Hathaway as the highest priced single stock share.
Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate headed by legendary investor Warren Buffett, has the most expensive stock in the world, with shares trading at over $400,000 each.
Calumet and Hecla, a now-defunct mining company, topped the charts with a historic stock price of $1,000 in 1907. British retailer Next PLC edges out most of the competition with its peak stock price of $8,484. Internet phenomenons Amazon and Google make the list with stock prices soaring in the thousands.
Ultimately, AAPL is considered by many to be a good stock to purchase and hold. Thus, it sports what is considered an immensely positive outlook for the foreseeable future. Subsequently, predictions maintain that Apple stock could reach $1000 between the years 2035 and 2040.
The all-time high Amazon stock closing price was 186.12 on July 08, 2021. The Amazon 52-week high stock price is 146.57, which is 17% above the current share price. The Amazon 52-week low stock price is 81.43, which is 35% below the current share price.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) hit the magic price of $1,000 per share on the morning of May 30, but there's no indication that CEO Jeff Bezos has any intention of splitting the stock, the Wall Street Journal reports.
'Billionaire Stocks': Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)
The natural stock pick held by the world's wealthiest person is Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), the giant tech company Bill Gates co-founded with Paul Allen in 1975. Gates still owns almost 103 million shares of the company worth $15.4 billion.
Those gains translate to a 39.2% compound annual growth rate for Apple compared to a 10.1% CAGR for the S&P 500 in that time. As a result, $10,000 in AAPL stock purchased 20 years ago would be worth about $7.51 million today, assuming reinvested dividends.
$1000 Invested In This Stock 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth $9,700 Today. Be Smarter Than Your Friends: Benzinga members get 3 trade opportunities & the hot takes on the economy every single week.
23, 1984). A $1,000 investment could have purchased 7,692.31 shares of AAPL at the time. The $1,000 investment in AAPL shares would be worth $1,162,615.73 today, based on a price of $151.01 for Apple stock at the time of writing.
If you wonder which company has the highest share price in the world, here is the answer. Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate headed by legendary investor Warren Buffett, has the most expensive stock in the world, with shares trading at over $400,000 each.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) — The Fortune 500 Former Penny Stock. Turtle Beach Corporation (NASDAQ: HEAR) — Back in Penny Stock Land. Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ: MNST) — The Surprising Mega Penny Stock. Mylan N.V. (used to trade under NASDAQ: MYL) — The Delisted Penny Stock.
Apple's annual dividend in 2021 was $0.88 ($0.22 paid quarterly). Based on Apple's stock price as of March 1, 2022 of around $163 per share, the dividend yield is approximately 0.50%.
Amazon was the third of the four companies to go public, with its IPO in May 1997. At the time, the company was valued at $438 million and shares were priced at a pre-split price of $18 each. If you had invested $10,000 in Amazon back then, your investment would now be worth more than $2.2 million.
Amazon shares have soared 612% in the last 10 years alongside its immense success, even taking into account the sell-off in 2022. As a result, those who bought $10,000 worth of Amazon's stock in January 2013 would have $78,138.51 today, with an annual rate of return of 22.42%.
Certain billionaires made their fortunes in the stock market. The list includes John Paulson, Warren Buffett, James Simons, Ray Dalio, Carl Icahn, and Dan Loeb. Buffett is by far the richest person of these six famous investors, with a net worth of $116 billion.
While over half of American adults own stock, most don't own much. The wealthiest 1% hold 53% of stocks, worth $16.76 trillion. If you expand to the top 10%, that group holds 88.6% of stocks, which have a value of $28 trillion.
The EPS Rating for Tesla stock is 93 out of 99. The market status is showing a "confirmed uptrend." Tesla stock has formed a valid base but TSLA is not a buy right now. However, Tesla stock is signaling a move above the 200-day line and 200 level and is approaching its current buy point.
Its high point during that time was $182.94. That's growth of 459.76%. If you sold your $1,000 investment from 2017 at that price, you'd have a total of $4,597.58.
Over the past two decades, Apple stock generated a total return (price change plus dividends) of more than 69,000%, or more than 38% annualized. Have a look at the above chart and you'll see that if you invested $1,000 in Apple stock 20 years ago, it would be worth more than $695,000 today.
If a company trades for 30 consecutive business days below the $1.00 minimum closing bid price requirement, Nasdaq will send a deficiency notice to the company, advising that it has been afforded a "compliance period" of 180 calendar days to regain compliance with the applicable requirements.
In order to hit your goal of $1 million in 10 years, SmartAsset's savings calculator estimates that you would need to save around $7,900 per month. This is if you're just putting your money into a high-yield savings account with an average annual percentage yield (APY) of 1.10%.
This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for $40,000,000 in 1984 (price index tracking began in 1635). For example, if you started with $40,000,000, you would need to end with $116,790,375.36 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").
$8,000 in 1980 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $29,452.72 today, an increase of $21,452.72 over 43 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.08% per year between 1980 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 268.16%.
The actual rate of return is largely dependent on the types of investments you select. The Standard & Poor's 500® (S&P 500®) for the 10 years ending December 31st 2022, had an annual compounded rate of return of 12.6%, including reinvestment of dividends.
Apple once again leads the charge as the most valuable company in the world, ahead of Microsoft and Saudi Aramco. ✔️ In the last year, the market capitalisation of the world's most valuable companies increased by 11% to $35.16 trillion.
There are 337 women on the 2023 World's Billionaires list, including a familiar face as the world's wealthiest. T he reign of Françoise Bettencourt Meyers continues.
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