Thursday, April 30, 2015

What is the difference between book value per share and market value per share for common stock

Understanding the difference between book value and market value is a simple yet fundamentally critical component of any attempt to analyze a company for investment. After all, when you invest in a share of stock or an entire business, you want to know you are paying a sensible price. Both book value and market value can be important tools for investors hoping to build strong portfolios. While the market price of each stock provides clues to a company's financial strength and future prospects, book value reveals the current state of the company and ignores future growth potential. Combining these two figures can help you determine whether a stock is valued correctly, which can help you get the most out of your investment.
Book Value literally means the value of the business according to its "books" or financial statements. In this case, book value is calculated from the balance sheet, and it is the difference between a company's total assets and total liabilities. Note that this is also the term for shareholders' equity. The book value of a company represents how much a company is worth based strictly on its balance sheet. To find book value, add up everything the company owns in terms of assets, then subtract everything the company owes, such as debts and other liabilities. Book value reveals how much the company is worth if it were liquidated and all assets were sold for cash. By dividing book value by the total number of shares outstanding, you can find book value per share.
Market Value is the value of a company according to the stock market. Market value is calculated by multiplying a company's shares outstanding by its current market price. Market value per share is a much easier figure to derive. The market value per share is simply the price of each share on the open market or how much it would cost to buy a share of stock at any given point. While book value represents how much the company's assets are worth, market value reveals what investors think the company is worth and how much they will pay to buy stock in the firm.
Implications of Each
Book value simply implies the value of the company on its books, often referred to as accounting value. It's the accounting value once assets and liabilities have been accounted for by a company's auditors. Whether book value is an accurate assessment of a company's value is determined by stock market investors who buy and sell the stock. Market value has a more meaningful implication in the sense that it is the price you have to pay to own a part of the business regardless of what book value is stated:
  1. Book Value Greater Than Market Value: The financial market values the company for less than its stated value or net worth. When this is the case, it's usually because the market has lost confidence in the ability of the company's assets to generate future profits and cash flows. In other words, the market doesn't believe that the company is worth the value on its books. Value investors often like to seek out companies in this category in hopes that the market perception turns out to be incorrect. After all, the market is giving you the opportunity to buy a business for less than its stated net worth.
  2. Market Value Greater Than Book Value: The market assigns a higher value to the company due to the earnings power of the company's assets. Nearly all consistently profitable companies will have market values greater than book values.
  3. Book Value Equals Market Value: The market sees no compelling reason to believe the company's assets are better or worse than what is stated on the balance sheet.
It's important to note that on any given day, a company's market value will fluctuate in relation to book value. The metric that tells this is known as the price-to-book ratio, or the P/B ratio:
P/B Ratio = Share Price/Book Value Per Share
(where Book Value Per Share equals shareholders' equity divided by number of shares outstanding)




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