What is Free Float Market Capitalization?

Key Points

• Free Float Market Capitalization is a way to determine the value of a company in the stock market.
• To calculate Free Float Market Capitalization, you subtract the shares that are not available for public trading from the total outstanding shares of a company.
• This gives you a more accurate measure of the company's actual value in the market.
• Investors often consider Free Float Market Capitalization when deciding which stocks to buy.

What is Free Float Market Capitalization?

All shares, including those held by promoters, the government, or other private parties as well as those that are publicly traded, are multiplied by the stock price to determine a company's overall market capitalization. However, we do not include shares held by promoters, trusts that are aligned with promoters (such as family endowment trusts or employee welfare trusts), or the government (in the case of PSUs) in the free-float market capitalization. To calculate a company's free-float market capitalization, we only take into account the shares that are owned and traded by the general public and multiply those by the share price.

Free float market capitalization formula:

Free Float = Outstanding Shares-Restricted Shares-Closely Held Shares, and Free Float Adjusted Market Capitalization = Outstanding Shares-Restricted Shares-Closely Held Shares. Free Float Adjusted Market Capitalization is calculated as follows: (Existing Shares - Restricted Shares) * Market Share Price. Assume that out of the 60,000 publicly traded shares of business XYZ, 40,000 are held by the promoters and their families. Each stock's market price is 50 rupees. The market capitalization would now be Rs. 50 lakh. However, the company's free-float market cap is Rs. 30 lakh. In the event of businesses with sizable promoter interests, there would be a more obvious distinction between total market cap and free-float market cap.

How To Calculate Free Float Market Capitalization?

The following equation can be used to get the free float market capitalization:

Total Outstanding Shares - Shares Not Available for Trading by Public = Free Float Market Capitalization.

Example of Free Float Market Capitalization

Consider a business that has a total of 5,00,000 shares, of which the promoters own 50,000, group companies 40,000, and the government 10,000. Currently, the stock is trading at Rs. 100.

If you multiply Rs. 5,000 by 100, the market value of the company is Rs. 5,000,000,000. The market capitalization of its free float, however, is Rs. 4,000,000 (5,000,000 - 50,000 - 40,000 - 10,000) * 100. There were only 4,000,000 shares available for trading, which is the cause.

Advantages Of Free Float Market Capitalization

• The free float system only takes into account shares or equities that are currently traded. This method is more useful for determining an enterprise's underlying value, investment risk, and growth potential than the total market capitalization.

• An index that just takes into account free-float market capitalization more properly reflects the real market dynamics. By avoiding the concentration of the top companies with a lower free float market cap, the index avoids this problem.

• A free float market cap provides for a wide variety of indexing. Additionally, it lessens the emphasis that traders and investors place on businesses that have large market caps but little free float.

The Free Float Market Capitalization's Effects

The National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange in India employ free-float market capitalization to determine index value in one of its most significant applications. The total free-float market capitalization of all the listed firms makes up this amount. This means that a company with a higher free-float component will also have a higher market weight in the index.

What is the Relation Between Free Float Market and Volatility?

The free float's size is inversely correlated with stock price volatility. Higher float denotes a plentiful supply of stocks and a lower likelihood of price manipulation by traders. A smaller float size, however, suggests that the controlling owners have a bigger impact on stock prices. And for this reason, before deciding to buy, investors are also considering the company's free float.

Conclusion

Market capitalization gives details on how much a company's shares are worth in the open market. The free-float market capitalization indicates the number of shares that the public may exchange and their impact on the share price. It is crucial to choose equities after looking at the free float market cap.

By enabling you to invest, the Kotak Securities app will provide you with an enjoyable, hassle-free investment journey. Combinations of equities and exchange-traded funds that reflect the investment philosophy, theme, or strategy are constructed and managed by SEBI-registered professionals and make up the portfolio.