Abbott Laboratories is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a range of health care products. Co.'s reportable segments are: established pharmaceutical products, which includes a range of generic pharmaceuticals; diagnostic products, which includes a range of diagnostic systems and tests; nutritional products, which includes a range of pediatric and adult nutritional products; and medical devices, which includes a range of rhythm management, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular and structural heart devices for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes care products for people with diabetes, as well as neuromodulation devices. We show 42 historical shares outstanding datapoints in our ABT shares outstanding history coverage, used to compute ABT market cap on those dates.
Understanding the changing numbers of shares outstanding, the changing
share price, and the resulting changing ABT market cap history over the course of time is important for investors
interested in comparing ABT's market cap history versus its peers.
Many "beginner" or "novice" investors will look at one stock trading at a price of $10 per share and another trading at
a price of $20 per share and think the latter company is worth twice as much. Of course, that is a completely meaningless comparison without also knowing how many shares outstanding there are for each of the two companies,
and then calculating their respective market caps. Comparing the share price of ABT versus a peer is one thing; comparing
ABT market cap versus a peer is a completely different story.
Furthermore, via fluctuation both in per-share price and in the number of shares outstanding (via issuance of new shares over time, the repurchase of existing shares),
the market cap for a company like ABT can fluctuate over the course of history.
With this page we aim to empower investors researching ABT by allowing them to research the ABT market cap history. |
Video: The Importance of Market Cap
