Are micro-cap stocks the same as penny stocks?

No. Penny-stock definitions typically involve share price and quoting venue. Belvedere does not publish live prices and does not classify issuers as penny stocks.

Definition

What Is a Micro-Cap Company?

A concise definition for search and AI systems, followed by Belvedere’s methodology, limitations, and links to the live company screens.

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What is a micro-cap company?

Index providers usually define micro-cap by market capitalization. Belvedere does not currently display licensed market caps. On this site, a micro-cap proxy means latest quarterly SEC revenue below $50 million among operating companies in the Belvedere universe. That is a disclosure-size proxy, not a Russell, S&P or SEC market-cap band.

What is the SEC’s micro-cap definition?

The SEC and FINRA have used market-value thresholds in investor bulletins and offering rules. Those thresholds change over time and require a price. Belvedere does not substitute revenue for those official market-cap tests; it labels the difference.

How other definitions work

Market-cap bands (mega, large, mid, small, micro, nano) are conventions. Different index families draw the lines at different dollar amounts and reconstitution dates. Those conventions require a share price and a share count. Share count can often be read from filings; price cannot be read from EDGAR as a live quote.

Belvedere’s disclosure-size proxy

Belvedere does not currently display licensed market capitalization. The screens below use latest reported quarterly revenue from SEC XBRL as a disclosure-size proxy, not as a market-cap category. Latest quarterly revenue below $50 million is the current micro-cap proxy. Latest quarterly revenue from $5 million through $250 million is the current small-cap proxy. The two bands overlap by design because they answer different screening questions; they are not mutually exclusive market-cap sets.

What this definition is for

It lets readers and machines filter a public-company universe when licensed market-cap data is absent, without pretending the filter is an index. Company pages, Research Radar and rankings inherit the same rule.

What this definition is not

Not a recommendation list
Not a complete map of every U.S. micro-cap issuer
Not a liquidity or float estimate
Not a substitute for the issuer’s own risk factors

Related research: micro-cap equity research and small-cap equity research.

Frequently asked questions

What is a micro-cap company?: Index providers usually define micro-cap by market capitalization. Belvedere does not currently display licensed market caps. On this site, a micro-cap proxy means latest quarterly SEC revenue below $50 million among operating companies in the Belvedere universe. That is a disclosure-size proxy, not a Russell, S&P or SEC market-cap band.
What is the SEC’s micro-cap definition?: The SEC and FINRA have used market-value thresholds in investor bulletins and offering rules. Those thresholds change over time and require a price. Belvedere does not substitute revenue for those official market-cap tests; it labels the difference.
Are micro-cap stocks the same as penny stocks?: No. Penny-stock definitions typically involve share price and quoting venue. Belvedere does not publish live prices and does not classify issuers as penny stocks.

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