okay someone please enlighten me. how is a copany like appl(stock over $170) and goog(stock over $600) not be amongst top 10 corporations. and the #1 corporation's stock(wmt) is less than $50. how does it work, I though stock price reflects ernings, growth, worth and all that good stuff. if thats the case, then top corporations like wal-mart, chevron, GM etc should have higher stock prices than aaple or google. only educated answers please cos I'm trying to learn

Those prices don't reflect the actual market capitalization. You need to mulitply the stock price by the number of shares to find the real price. Stock prices only reflect investor sentiment. This is why prices can rise and fall so much day to day and week to week. When sentiment is favorable, stock prices for the favored issues soar. When sentiment turns down, prices fall.

Different corporations authorize and sell different numbers of shares of stock, and different types of shares of stock.The book value is part of the equation, and so is how many shares are outstanding, and so is how much money the corporation has made, and expects to make.It all boils down to how much people are willing to pay for the stock. The stock market is an auction. People ask for a certain price, and if nobody will pay that much, they might ask less. People bid on the stocks. It is pure capitalism, and belief that the stock price will go the way they want.