A company’s market value is calculated by multiplying the number of shares of stock it has in circulation by the current price of one share. Facebook Inc was valued at USD 238 billion at the close of trading yesterday, according to FactSet. Its stock gained USD 3.14, or 3.7 per cent, at USD 87.88. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was valued at USD 234 billion. Its stock dipped 22 cents to USD 72.57. Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, California, has been on a roll this past year, its shares up about 34 per cent in the past year compared with just 8.2 per cent for the S&P 500 index. Its quarterly results have consistently surpassed expectations.
In the first three months of this year, Facebook’s total revenue of USD 3.54 billion amounted to just a little more than Wal-Mart’s total profit for its fiscal first quarter of USD 3.34 billion. But while Facebook saw revenue grow 42 per cent in the same period, Wal-Mart’s declined slightly.
