These puny ASX stocks make some of their fellow small caps look like giants.

Of all the trading ASX small cap stocks — about 1,740 by our count — the average market capitalisation is $56.7 million.

But did you know there are a handful of stocks that don’t even crack the $1 million mark? Most of these companies only have a small number of shares on issue, so poor share price performance affects the market cap.

Market capitalisation

A company’s market capitalisation gives you an indication of its value on the open market. It is calculated by multiplying the number of shares a company has on issue with its most recent trading price per share.

When you hear people talking about undervalued or overvalued shares, they are most commonly referring to its trading price and market cap.

At Stockhead, we bring you news each day looking at the small cap end of the market — as a general rule, companies that have a market cap of $400 million or less. These companies can represent opportunity to investors, as their share prices tend to fluctuate on bigger levels than those seen at the middle and large ends of the ASX market.

Nine baby caps to go, thanks

The ignominious title of company with the least market value of the 2,237 on the ASX goes to Q Technology Group (ASX:QTG), which has a market cap of just $184,869.

Q Tech has only 46 million shares on issue and closed on Friday at 0.4c per share.

The company makes security cameras, and Stockhead last reported on them way back in August 2017, when a CEO who had been appointed to turn the company around departed after just three months in the role.

In a company update in November, CEO Andrew Phillips told investors it was receiving strong sales from Metro Trains in Victoria.

Second smallest is Tikforce (ASX:TKF), with a market cap of $223,033. Currently in trading suspension, the under-fire human resources platform retracted all statements made in 2017 about a possible $1.9 million contract. It also revealed it made just $114,258 from the arrangement.

Stockhead covered the story extensively. The company’s shares were suspended in December, fetching the minimum price of a tenth of a cent.

Also in suspension is Sterling Plantations (ASX:SBI), which last traded in November. It has a market cap of $845,000, with 65 million shares on issue.

Mariner Corp (ASX:MCX) has the healthiest share price of this lot, with shares closing on Friday at 2.5c a pop, but it has just 13.7 million shares on issue, and so a market cap of $343,452.

Rawson Oil & Gas (ASX:RAW) would have had the best hope of cracking the seven-digit barrier with a market cap of $902,034, but Friday was its final day trading on the ASX after it was acquired by Gina Rinehart-backed Lakes Oil (ASX:LKO).

Lakes paid $3.8 million for Rawson in its bid to advance towards production.

Here’s a table of the ASX-listed companies with a market cap of less than $1 million. Click headings to sort

ASX code Company Market cap Shares on issue Last price
AHK ARK MINES LTD $736,943 49.1m 0.015
CDH CHONGHERR INVESTMENTS LTD $651,037 130.2m 0.005
MCX MARINER CORP LTD $343,452 13.7m 0.025
MSI MULTISTACK INTERNATIONAL LTD $673,824 112.3m 0.006
QTG Q TECHNOLOGY GROUP LTD $184,869 46.22m 0.004
R3D R3D GLOBAL LTD $288,029 41.2m 0.007
RAW RAWSON OIL AND GAS LTD $902,034 112.8m 0.008
SBI STERLING PLANTATIONS LTD (suspended) $845,000 65m 0.013
TKF TIKFORCE LTD (suspended) $223,033 223m 0.001
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