Book Value Per Share

Book value per share

The ratio of stockholder equity to the average number of common shares. Book value per share should not be thought of as an indicator of economic worth, since it reflects accounting valuation (and not necessarily market valuation).

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Net Asset Value Per Share

The expression of the value of a company or fund per share. In the case of a mutual fund, this is the per share prorated value of the securities underlying the fund. It is calculated once per day at the end of the trading day and functions as the share price of the mutual fund for the next trading day.

In the case of an exchange-traded fund, closed-end fund, or stock, this is the expression of the underlying value of the company or fund per share. That is, it is a statement of the value of the company's assets themselves minus the company's liabilities and the difference divided by the number of outstanding shares. One way of thinking about the net asset value per share is that it is the underlying value of the share, not the value dictated by the supply and demand of shares. Because cost accounting tends to undervalue the value of certain assets, the net asset value per share is usually lower than the market price of shares. It is also called the book value per share.

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book value per share

Common stockholders' equity determined on a per-share basis. Book value per share is calculated by subtracting liabilities and the par value of any outstanding preferred stock from assets and dividing the remainder by the number of outstanding shares of stock. Also called book, book value. See also market to book.