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    Top 25 Companies by Market Cap

    By Eric Reed,

    3 days ago

    For most of the 21st century a handful of large tech companies have dominated the stock market. The names have changed from time to time as NVIDIA replaced Netflix, say, or Google and Facebook rebranded to Alphabet and Meta, respectively. But overall, a few companies collectively account for more than a fifth of the market's entire value.

    Six companies on the S&P 500 are currently worth more than $1 trillion each: Apple, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta. Collectively they are worth around $14 trillion, approximately one-third of the S&P 500's roughly $45 trillion market cap. This is important to remember when we review any market capitalization ranking. While all of the companies on this list are big, a few of them belong in a category all their own.

    Here are the 25 most valuable companies currently on the U.S. stock market by market cap. Remember, readers should expect the details of stock price and market value to fluctuate.

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    1. Apple (AAPL)

    Market Cap: ~$3.12 Trillion

    Stock Price: ~$204

    Apple is a multinational technology company that designs, manufactures, and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. The company’s best-known products include the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s business model is based on the sale of its hardware products, as well as the sale of digital content and applications through its App Store and other digital platforms. The company also generates revenue from services such as Apple Music, iCloud, and Apple Pay. Apple’s ecosystem of hardware, software, and services is designed to work seamlessly together, creating a unique user experience and driving customer loyalty.

    2. Microsoft (MSFT)

    Market Cap: ~$3.04 Trillion

    Stock Price: ~$401

    Microsoft’s best-known products include the Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, and the Xbox gaming console. Microsoft’s business model is based on the sale of its software products and services, as well as the sale of hardware devices such as the Surface tablet and the Xbox console. The company also generates revenue from advertising through its Bing search engine and from its cloud computing services, such as Microsoft Azure.

    3. NVIDIA (NVDA)

    Market Cap: ~$2.62 Trillion

    Stock Price: ~$102

    NVIDIA is a technology company that designs and manufactures graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), and system-on-a-chip units (SoCs) for the gaming, professional visualization, data center and automotive markets. The company’s products are used in a wide range of applications, including artificial intelligence, deep learning, and accelerated computing. NVIDIA’s business model is based on the sale of its chips and licensing its intellectual property. The company also provides a range of software and services for its products.

    4. Alphabet (GOOG)

    Market Cap: ~$2.00 Trillion

    Stock Price: ~$159

    Alphabet is best known as Google, for the company's flagship product. The company’s best-known products also include the Android operating system and Chrome web browser. Google’s business model is based on the sale of advertising through its search engine and other platforms, as well as the sale of hardware devices such as the Pixel smartphone and the Google Home smart speaker. The company also generates revenue from its cloud computing services, such as Google Cloud, and from its YouTube video platform.

    5. Amazon (AMZN)

    Market Cap: ~$1.83 Trillion

    Stock Price: ~$160

    Amazon is a technology firm that has grown far beyond its original business. Amazon started as an online book seller, then grew into a general online retailer. Today the company operates in a wide range of tech spaces, including hardware, software, media, cloud computing and AI.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4PPBZO_0upFOaZp00

    6. Meta (META)

    Market Cap: ~$1.25 Trillion

    Stock Price: ~$482

    Like Google, Meta is best known for its original product, in this case Facebook. The company owns and operates several popular social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.

    7. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)

    Market Cap: ~$906 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$415

    Berkshire Hathaway is a publicly traded investing firm. Run by famed investor Warren Buffet, the main operations of this company are to manage investment portfolios and to hold shares of invested businesses. In this way, investing in Berkshire Hathaway operates somewhat like investing in a mutual fund or ETF rather than a traditional stock, as the company's profits derive from its underlying investment returns.

    8. Eli Lilly (LLY)

    Market Cap: ~$775 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$786

    Eli Lilly is a pharmaceutical company that makes some of the most well-known and widely used products in the world. In particular, Eli Lilly makes a range of preventative products such as vaccines and daily-treatment products such as insulin.

    9. Broadcom (AVGO)

    Market Cap: ~$671 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$140

    Broadcom is a technology and communications firm. This company makes hardware and software in and around the networking space. It has a wide variety of products, most of which are focused on computer network infrastructure and security. The most notable consumer-facing brand that it operates is the security software company Symantec.

    10. JPMorgan Chase (JPM)

    Market Cap: ~$586 Billion

    Stock Price: $195

    JPMorgan Chase operates in four segments: Consumer & Community Banking, Corporate & Investment Bank, Commercial Banking, and Asset & Wealth Management. JPMorgan Chase is one of the largest banks in the United States and is considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board. The company’s business model is based on providing a wide range of financial services to consumers, businesses, and institutions, including banking, credit cards, mortgages, investment banking, and asset management.

    11. Tesla (TSLA)

    Market Cap: ~$627 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$194

    Tesla, Inc. is a leading electric vehicle and clean energy company that designs, manufactures, and sells electric cars, solar products, and energy storage systems. The company’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Tesla ‘s business model is vertically integrated, allowing it to control every aspect of its supply chain, from raw materials to the final product. The company also operates a network of fast-charging stations for its electric vehicles.

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    12. Walmart (WMT)

    Market Cap: ~$557 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$68

    Walmart is a large retailer. It operates "big box" stores, which typically focus on consumer goods such as clothing, furniture and electronics, as well as grocery stores. Walmart Is known for its low prices and numerous locations.

    13. Exxon Mobile (XOM)

    Market Cap: ~$512 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$113

    The energy industry tends to be volatile, and Exxon Mobil is no exception. This is an oil and gas company that primarily works in the extraction, refinement and distribution of various kinds of fuel. This has tended to make the company very wealthy, as energy is a nondiscretionary consumable good, but also highly exposed to oil and natural gas prices, which are notoriously volatile and exposed to global risks.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4SB6oS_0upFOaZp00

    14. Visa (V)

    Market Cap: ~$510 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$260

    Visa is a payment processing and card services company. Like its main competitor MasterCard, many consumers confuse the role of Visa. This is a financial infrastructure company, not a bank or credit card issuer. Visa operates the systems which accept, communicate and transfer payments. It gets paid by the banks which issue cards using its network and by the vendors that use Visa's services to accept payment.

    15. UnitedHealth (UNH)

    Market Cap: ~$509 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$570

    UnitedHealth, more commonly known as "United," is a health care conglomerate. Like many large companies, it has many different lines of business within its space. This includes both health care distribution, such as doctors and clinics, and health care payment, such as insurance. It also operates many different services within the health care system, such as both clinical and financial infrastructure

    16. MasterCard (MA)

    Market Cap: ~$410 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$444

    MasterCard provides a wide range of financial services including credit, debit, prepaid, and commercial cards. It operates the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. The company’s business model is based on charging fees to merchants for processing transactions and to banks for issuing cards. MasterCard also generates revenue from other services such as data analytics and consulting.

    17. Procter & Gamble (PG)

    Market Cap: ~$389 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$169

    Procter & Gamble is a consumer goods company that focuses on health, cleaning and hygiene products. It is not a pharmaceutical company. Rather, it tends to make on-the-shelf and consumer-facing products, rather than the prescription products of a pharmaceutical company. It makes well known products such as Oral-B, Pampers, Tide and many more.

    18. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

    Market Cap: ~$379 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$160

    Johnson & Johnson is a consumer goods company focused on health care products. It has some overlap and competition with Procter & Gamble, but the two companies generally focus on different fields. Where Proctor & Gamble focuses on general consumer goods, Johnson & Johnson specializes in medical supplies and technology. It is not a pharmaceutical company, in that it does not research new drugs, but this company does research and develop many cutting edge medical devices and technology.

    19. Oracle (ORCL)

    Market Cap: ~$367 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$130

    Oracle is a technology company that produces both hardware and software. Its core business model focuses on data storage, cloud computing, communication technology and network infrastructure. By volume of sales, this is one of the largest technology companies in the world, with products that are integrated into many (if not most) major networks.

    20. Costco (COST)

    Market Cap: ~$358 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$814

    The business model of Costco is one part bulk retailer and one part discount club. Like a handful of other similarly situated retailers, such as Sam's Club, Costco sells memberships to potential customers. Once a customer has enrolled, they can then buy products in large volumes at significantly discounted prices.

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    21. Home Depot (HD)

    Market Cap: ~$349 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$350

    Home Depot is a large retailer that focuses on hardware and infrastructure-level home goods. While it sells some furniture and furnishings, most of Home Depot's products are either pure hardware (such as tools and lumber) or installed products (such as appliances and fixtures). Most Home Depot stores use the big box model, operating very large locations designed to provide a one-stop shopping experience for most customers.

    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2U7jGG_0upFOaZp00

    22. AbbVie (ABBV)

    Market Cap: ~$325 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$184

    AbbVie is a pharmaceutical company, and is one of the largest biomedical companies in the world by revenue and volume of sales. Like many pharmaceutical companies, AbbVie heavily depends on one flagship drug. In this case, that product is Humira, an arthritis and anti-rheumatic drug that makes up about one-quarter of the company's revenue. Some of its other core products include Botox and Rinvoq.

    23. Bank of America (BAC)

    Market Cap: ~$300 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$37

    Bank of America is a financial services firm. Its brand focuses particularly on the company's depository institution, but it offers a wide range of financial services and products. The bank operates its investment banking and related services through Merrill Lynch, which it acquired in 2009. Bank of America is one of the largest financial services firms in the country.

    24. Coca-Cola (KO)

    Market Cap: ~$289 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$68

    The Coca-Cola company is one of the largest beverage companies in the world. It makes nonalcoholic beverages across a number of brands, from soft drinks to juices, bottled water, concentrates and more. The company's biggest product is its eponymous soft drink, Coca-Cola, but it sells more than 500 additional brands and products worldwide.

    25. Merck (MRK)

    Market Cap: ~$280 Billion

    Stock Price: ~$112

    Merck is a pharmaceutical company. It is one of the largest biomedical companies in the world by volume and revenue of sales. Unlike many competitors, Merck has a relatively diverse portfolio of products. It does not rely on a single drug for a disproportionate share of its revenue, but rather has a number of high-value products.

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    The Bottom Line

    The 25 largest companies in America represent a large cross section of industries. While the top tier remains dominated by technology firms, below the trillion-dollar mark you'll find everything from pharmaceuticals to retail and beyond.

    Tips Stock Market Investing

    • If you're looking to invest in single stocks, one of the best places to start is with the concept of growth vs. value. Here's what that means, and how each version can fit in your portfolio.
    • A financial advisor can help you build a comprehensive retirement plan. Finding a financial advisor doesn't have to be hard. SmartAsset's free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have a free introductory call with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you're ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now . You can also check out SmartAsset reviews .
    • Keep an emergency fund on hand in case you run into unexpected expenses. An emergency fund should be liquid — in an account that isn’t at risk of significant fluctuation like the stock market. The tradeoff is that the value of liquid cash can be eroded by inflation. But a high-interest account allows you to earn compound interest. Compare savings accounts from these banks .

    Photo credit: ©iStock.com/Nikada, ©iStock.com/georgeclerk, ©iStock.com/jetcityimage, ©iStock.com/Sundry Photography

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