Net asset value

Net asset value (NAV)

The value of a fund's investments. For a mutual fund, the net asset value per share usually represents the fund's market price, subject to a possible sales or redemption charge. For a closed-end fund, the market price may vary significantly from the net asset value.

Net Asset Value

In stocks and businesses, an expression of the underlying value of the company. That is, it is a statement of the value of the company's assets minus the value of its liabilities. One way of thinking about the net asset value is that it is the underlying value of a company, not the value dictated by the supply and demand of shares or its market capitalization. It is also called the book value.

Net asset value (NAV).

The NAV is the dollar value of one share of a fund. It's calculated by totaling the value of all the fund's holdings plus money awaiting investment, subtracting operating expenses, and dividing by the number of outstanding shares.

A fund's NAV changes regularly, though day-to-day variations are usually small.

The NAV is the price per share an open-end mutual fund pays when you redeem, or sell back, your shares. With no-load mutual funds, the NAV and the offering price, or what you pay to buy a share, are the same. With front-load funds, the offering price is the sum of the NAV and the sales charge per share and is sometimes known as the maximum offering price (MOP).

The NAV of an exchange traded fund (ETF) or a closed-end mutual fund may be higher or lower than the market price of a share of the fund. With an ETF, though, the difference is usually quite small because of a unique mechanism that allows institutional investors to buy or redeem large blocks of shares at the NAV with in-kind baskets of the fund's stocks.

net asset value

the asset value of a company to its ordinary shareholders. This consists of the BALANCE SHEET value of total assets (FIXED ASSETS plus CURRENT ASSETS) LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES, DEBENTURES, LOAN STOCK and PREFERENCE SHARES. These net assets can be divided by the number of ordinary shares to indicate the net asset value per share.