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Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our investing reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — how to get started, the best brokers, types of investment accounts, how to choose investments and more — so you can feel confident when investing your money. Investing disclosure: The investment information provided in this table is for informational and general educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment or financial advice. Bankrate does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it provide individualized recommendations or personalized investment advice. Investment decisions should be based on an evaluation of your own personal financial situation, needs, risk tolerance and investment objectives. Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
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You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. How high can a stock price go? In theory, as high as anyone can count. There’s literally no limit on how far a stock can rise, and a stock’s ongoing success is determined by the performance of its business. In general, a high stock price indicates a business has been successful, though it’s no guarantee that it has been. Below are 10 of the most expensive stocks — those with the highest share prices — that and why a stock price actually doesn’t tell you much at all. What are the top 10 highest-priced stocks
The list below includes the stock prices of companies included in the Russell 1000 index, which numbers about 1,000 of the most valuable firms trading on U.S. stock exchanges. (Don’t get it confused with the , which tracks some of the smallest companies.) Note: Stock prices and market capitalizations are as of the October 4, 2022 close. 1 Berkshire Hathaway Class A BRK-A
offers the granddaddy of stock prices run by the granddaddy of investors, the legendary . This conglomerate owns stakes in a number of businesses, including insurance, railroads and utilities. It also has an enormous . If you don’t have nearly a half-million dollars to buy an A share, you can still pick up B shares at a much lower price. Stock price: $424,180 Market cap: $617 billion 2 NVR NVR
NVR is a homebuilder based in the Washington, DC area, and it operates the Ryan Homes, NV Homes and Heartland Homes brands. Stock price: $4,321 Market cap: $13.7 billion 3 Seaboard SEB
Seaboard is an agribusiness and transportation company based in the Kansas City area. It produces and sells pork products, sugar, alcohol, corn and other agricultural products. Stock price: $3,466 Market cap: $4.0 billion 4 Autozone AZO
Autozone is known for its chain of retail stores under the same name, where it sells automotive replacement parts and accessories. Stock price: $2,205 Market cap: $41.1 billion 5 Texas Pacific Land Corp TPL
Texas Pacific Land Corp. is one of the largest landowners in the state of Texas, controlling about 880,000 surface acres in west Texas. The company generates revenue through oil and gas development and is headquartered in Dallas. Stock price: $1,970 Market cap: $15.2 billion 6 Booking Holdings BKNG
Booking Holdings is the company behind travel websites Booking.com and Priceline as well as OpenTable for restaurant reservations. Stock price: $1,759 Market cap: $69.8 billion 7 Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG
Chipotle is known for its fast casual Mexican restaurants of the same name. Based in Newport Beach, California, the company operates several thousand locations in the U.S. and a handful internationally. Stock price: $1,536 Market cap: $42.6 billion 8 White Mountains Insurance Group WTM
White Mountains runs a portfolio of companies in the financial services and insurance industry and looks to make opportunistic acquisitions in these industries. The New Hampshire-based company will sell businesses when it can receive attractive exit valuations. Stock price: $1,365 Market cap: $4.0 billion 9 Mettler-Toledo International MTD
Mettler-Toledo is a global supplier of precision instruments to the life sciences, food and chemical industries. The Columbus, Ohio-based company sells its products in more than 140 different countries. Stock price: $1,179 Market cap: $25.4 billion 10 Markel Corp MKL
Based in Virginia, Markel is a diverse financial holding company that has sometimes been referred to as a “mini-Berkshire.” The company does business in the specialty insurance space and invests the premiums it receives. Its Markel Ventures segment operates a diverse group of businesses outside the specialty insurance industry. Stock price: $1,171 Market cap: $15.8 billion The stock price doesn t tell you much
It’s fun to look at high stock prices, but the fact is, a stock’s price doesn’t tell you much by itself. As you can see in the list above, a stock can be any price, but the company’s size – – can be anything. A stock price alone doesn’t even tell you how expensive a stock is! While there are huge companies on this list – Berkshire and Booking Holdings, for two – (MSFT) and (AAPL) don’t make the cut, even though they’re both comparably large. So what’s going on? You need several more pieces of information to make the stock price meaningful: The total number of shares in the company The company’s market capitalization The earnings per share Those pieces of information provide the context to give the share price meaning. Total number of shares
The total number of shares in the company tells you how many slices the company has been divided into. A company can be divided into any number of shares, as long as shareholders agree to it. Think of a company like a pizza, where you can cut any number of slices. The size (stock price) of any individual piece doesn’t tell you much about the size of the whole pizza pie, however. In fact, many companies purposely keep their stocks within certain ranges, often $20 to $120 per share. They’ll strategically use a to keep their stock at a lower price and to make it easier for investors to buy some shares, meaning they’ll need fewer dollars to invest. Market capitalization
A company’s , or market cap, is more useful. Again, think of that pizza cut up into slices. Well, the market cap is the total size of all those slices put together. So the market cap tells you just how big or valuable the company is in total. Market capitalization = Stock price * Number of shares outstanding And that’s why comparably large companies such as Apple and Microsoft don’t make the list. They have a huge market cap, but they cut the company’s total stock into even more slices, effectively reducing the share price in the process. Earnings per share
One final piece of information that investors use to analyze the company is its earnings per share. They’ll use earnings per share to figure out a (P/E), in order to measure how much they’re paying for a given amount of the company’s earnings. And that’s how some investors measure how expensive a stock actually is. A higher P/E ratio signals that investors are paying more for the company’s earnings, while a lower one indicates that they’re not as willing to pay as much. So a company’s earnings per share shows you how much you’re getting for the stock price you’re paying. You’re likely to get much higher earnings per share for companies with a high stock price than those with a low stock price, all else equal. For example, Berkshire Hathaway reported earnings of $59,460 for each Class A share in 2021 against its current stock price of about $424,000. Combine that EPS information with the stock price and you can figure out how much you’re paying for each dollar of the firm’s earnings. Bottom line
While it can be fun to highlight high-priced stocks, the price doesn’t tell you all that much by itself. Rather, you need information about the total size of the pie in order to gauge a company’s true scale. As former New York Yankees catcher and baseball legend Yogi Berra famously joked: “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” Editorial Disclaimer: All investors are advised to conduct their own independent research into investment strategies before making an investment decision. In addition, investors are advised that past investment product performance is no guarantee of future price appreciation. SHARE: Bankrate senior reporter James F. Royal, Ph.D., covers investing and wealth management. His work has been cited by CNBC, the Washington Post, The New York Times and more. Brian Beers is the managing editor for the Wealth team at Bankrate. He oversees editorial coverage of banking, investing, the economy and all things money. Robert R. Johnson, Ph.D., CFA, CAIA, is a professor of finance at Creighton University and chairman and CEO of Economic Index Associates, LLC. Related Articles