Why some stocks are priced low compared to others even if the market cap is higher?

Question

The following is the price chart of Ford and Rivian. The stock price of Ford is $25.21 and the market cap is $100B. The stock price of Rivian is $79.95 and the market cap is $72B.

My questions are:

1. Is Market Cap the same as Valuation of a company?
2. The Market Cap of Ford is higher than Rivian, but still the stock price is lower than Rivian's. What is the reason for it's lower price?
3. Can I make an assumption that the stock price of Rivian reached $172 a few months ago, so at some point the stock can reach that price?
4. Ford reached it's highest of $35 in 1999. Can I make an assumption that Ford can reach that price any time in the future?
5. What is the reason the stock price of Ford could never go over $15 for almost 20 years? Is it due to low volume because of lack of interest of investors?

Answer 1

Is Market Cap the same as Valuation of a company?

Market capitalization is the total value of the outstanding company shares. Essentially it is the market's valuation of the company, but it may differ from the "intrinsic value" of the company which is the valuation of its underlying assets, or financial valuation.

The Market Cap of Ford is higher than Rivian, but still the stock price is lower than Rivian's. What is the reason for it's lower price?

Market capitalization = share price * outstanding shares. It may be that Ford has way more outstanding shares than Rivian.

Can I make an assumption that the stock price of Rivian reached $172 a few months ago, so at some point the stock can reach that price?

Of course you may. Whether it is realistic or not is a different question. You can assume whatever you want, the market doesn't have to comply. In this case, hype I suspect has a lot to do with the initial jump after the IPO.

Ford reached it's highest of $35 in 1999. Can I make an assumption that Ford can reach that price any time in the future?

Same answer.

What is the reason the stock price of Ford could never go over $15 for almost 20 years? Is it due to low volume because of lack of interest of investors?

Many reasons. Generally you've got to look at the fundamentals of the company, the market and the industry. Manufacturing in the US is a dying business, the traditional American car manufacturers have generally hard time competing (most of them went out of business over the course of the second half of 20th century and early 21st), just to name a few reasons.