The market value of a firm can be determined by looking at its stock price, but the price of a share of stock also depends on how many shares are currently outstanding. Certain stocks typically trade at such high prices because the company has never or very occasionally performed a stock split.
A stock can be assessed in a variety of ways besides by looking at its absolute share price. Here, we examine some of the biggest businesses in the United States and around the world.
Leading Corporations by Stock Price
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), which was trading at $458,675 a share as of January 2022, has the most expensive publicly traded share of all time. On January 18, 2022, Berkshire reached an all-time high of $487,255.
This share value is unlikely to be matched by anything other than ongoing increases in the share price of Berkshire Hathaway due to exceptional shareholder profits and the eccentricities of its creator.
NVR (NVR), with a nominal share price of $5,154.98 as of January 2022, is the next firm behind Berkshire in terms of market cap. Following them are Alphabet, Inc. (GOOG), which was trading at $2,607.03 a share, and Seaboard Corporation (SEB), which was trading at $3,731.02 and $2,852.86, respectively.
Leading Businesses by Market Cap
According to market capitalization as of January 2022, Apple (AAPL) is the largest company with a value of $2.652 trillion, followed by Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOGL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Tesla (TSLA), and Meta (META), formerly Facebook, with values of $1.725 trillion, $1.446 trillion, $947.92 billion, and $843.34 billion.
The massive PetroChina (PTR) energy company in China attained a market value of over $1 trillion back in 2007. This assessment, however, didn’t endure. PTR’s market capitalization was under $146.95 billion as of January 2022.
Leading Businesses by Revenue
According to the Fortune 500 ranking, Walmart (WMT) is the largest company in the world in terms of revenue. In 2021, Walmart generated $523,964 billion in revenue. Amazon came in second with $280,522 billion in sales, State Grid came in third with $383,906 billion, and China National Petroleum came in fourth with $379,130 billion.
With $407,009 billion in annual revenue, Sinopec Group comes in fifth. Apple and CVS Health, with $260,174 billion and $256,776 billion in annual revenue, respectively, come in sixth and seventh.
Walmart continues to lead Amazon in terms of 2020 performance among businesses with U.S. headquarters solely. Apple is ranked fourth, ExxonMobil is third. CVS, UnitedHealth Group, and McKesson, which generated $256.78 billion, $242.15 billion, and $231.05 billion respectively, are in the fifth, sixth, and eighth positions, respectively.
With $254.62 billion in annual sales, Berkshire Hathaway comes in sixth. AT&T and AmerisourceBergen, with $181.19 billion and $179.59 billion in annual revenue, respectively, come in ninth and tenth.
Based only on 2019 results for corporations with U.S. headquarters, Walmart continues to hold the top rank, followed by ExxonMobil (XOM), which has annual revenues of $290.21 billion. With $265.59 billion, Apple comes in third, followed by Berkshire Hathaway at $247.84 billion. UnitedHealth Group, McKesson, and CVS, three healthcare businesses, rank sixth through ninth, respectively, with revenues of $226.25 billion, $214.32 billion, and $194.58 billion.
