
Top 3 ways to find the value of a stock
- P/E Ratio A company’s price earnings ratio, or P/E ratio, is one of the most popular ways to value a share due to its ease of use and mass ...
- PEG Ratio When taking the P/E ratio a step further, traders are able to get a good idea of the value of a stock when incorporating the growth rate ...
- Dividend Discount Model (DDM)
How do you calculate the total value of a stock?
4 ways to calculate the relative value of a stock
- Price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) What it is. Offers a snapshot of what you’ll pay for a company’s future earnings. ...
- Price/earnings-to-growth ratio (PEG) What it is. Considers a company’s earnings growth. ...
- Price-to-book ratio (P/B) What it is. A snapshot of the value of a company’s assets. ...
- Free cash flow (FCF)
How to calculate the value of share?
Summary
- Market value is usually used to describe how much an asset or company is worth in a financial market.
- The market value of a good is the same as its market price only when a fair market exists.
- Market value can be expressed in the forms of mathematical ratios such as P/E ratio, EPS, market value per share, book value per share, etc.
How to calculate value of stock?
Stock price = price-to-earnings ratio / earnings per share. To calculate a stock's value right now, we must ensure that the earnings-per-share number we are using represents the most recent four ...
How to evaluate a stock before you buy?
- A PEG ratio of 1 infers that a company’s stock is fairly priced
- PEG ratio “less than 1” infers stock is undervalued (cheap)
- PEG ratio “greater than 1” suggests that a stock is overvalued (expensive)

Why value a stock?
Valuing a stock allows traders to acquire a solid understanding of the value of a share and whether it is appropriately priced. Once the value of the share is known, it can then be compared to the quoted price of the share in the stock market.
What happens if the quoted share price is higher than the calculated value?
If the quoted share price is higher than the calculated value, it is seen as expensive and traders will look to short/sell the stock in anticipation of price reverting to its intrinsic value.
What is dividend discount?
The dividend discount model is similar to the previous stock valuation methods as it considers future dividends (earnings) to shareholders. However, the DDM model looks at future dividends and discounts them to establish what those dividends would be worth in today’s value otherwise referred to as the present value (PV).
What is the reverse of a share?
The reverse of this is where a share trades below its intrinsic value and traders purchase the share in anticipation of the share price rising to match the intrinsic value. This is often the case for value stocks. An example of this is shown below where Aviva PLC is trading below intrinsic value.
What is equity valuation?
Stock valuation, also referred to as ‘equity valuation’, provides the framework for traders to identify when a stock is relatively cheap or expensive. The difference between a stock’s market value and its intrinsic value presents traders with an opportunity to benefit from this disparity.
What is PV after discounting future dividends?
After discounting future dividends, the answer at PV is the value of the stock according to the dividend discount model.
When taking the P/E ratio a step further, traders are able to get a good idea of the?
When taking the P/E ratio a step further, traders are able to get a good idea of the value of a stock when incorporating the growth rate of Earnings Per Share (EPS). This is more realistic as earnings are seldomly static and therefore, adding EPS growth to the mix creates a more dynamic stock valuation formula.
How to calculate book value of stock?
How it’s calculated. Divide the current share price by the stock’s book value. Then divide by the number of shares issued. The book value is worked out from the balance sheet as total assets minus total liabilities (or costs). The balance sheet with these figures can be found in the company’s latest earnings report on its website.
Why should I value stocks before buying?
No one wants to pay more than they need to. The basic goal of investing in stocks is to buy when the price is low and sell when it’s high to make a profit.
How do fundamental analysts determine the intrinsic value of a stock?
Fundamental analysts attempt to discover this intrinsic value based on the company’s financial statements, including its earnings and debt. Relative value is determined by comparing businesses against their peers, like comparing the price of Dollar General stock with Dollar Tree stock or comparing Bank of America stock with Citibank stock.
How to find P/E?
How it’s calculated. Look for a company’s EPS figures on its website. Divide the current price share by the EPS to find the P/E. If the company has adjusted EPS figures, use those instead — any one-time major expense could affect the EPS.
What does it mean when a P/E ratio increases?
Watch out for when a P/E ratio increases dramatically. This could mean investors overshot the expectations about the company’s actual earnings. Investors can get caught up in the market hype, anticipating significant growth, and push the stock price to the point it’s overvalued and due for a correction.
Why do investors use ratios?
Many investors use ratios to decide if a stock offers a good relative value compared to its peers. Here are the four most basic ways to calculate a stock value.
How to calculate P/B?
How it’s calculated. Divide the current share price by the stock’s book value. Then divide by the number of shares issued.
What is book value?
The book value usually includes equipment, buildings, land and anything else that can be sold, including stock holdings and bonds. With purely financial firms, the book value can fluctuate with the market as these stocks tend to have a portfolio of assets that goes up and down in value.
How long does it take to pay back a stock?
The reason for this is simple: A P/E ratio can be thought of as how long a stock will take to pay back your investment if there is no change in the business. A stock trading at $20 per share with earnings of $2 per share has a P/E ratio of 10, which is sometimes seen as meaning that you'll make your money back in 10 years if nothing changes.
Why do investors use the PEG ratio?
Because the P/E ratio isn't enough in and of itself, many investors use the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio. Instead of merely looking at the price and earnings, the PEG ratio incorporates the historical growth rate of the company's earnings. This ratio also tells you how company A's stock stacks up against company B's stock.
How to calculate PEG ratio?
This ratio also tells you how company A's stock stacks up against company B's stock. The PEG ratio is calculated by taking the P/E ratio of a company and dividing it by the year-over-year growth rate of its earnings. The lower the value of your PEG ratio, the better the deal you're getting for the stock's future estimated earnings.
Why is it important to compare P/E ratios?
The reason for this is simple: A P/E ratio can be thought of as how long a stock will take to pay back your investment if there is no change in the business.
What does a PEG ratio mean?
A PEG of 1 means you're breaking even if growth continues as it has in the past.
What is the P/B ratio?
Made for glass-half-empty people, the price-to-book (P/B) ratio represents the value of the company if it is torn up and sold today. This is useful to know because many companies in mature industries falter in terms of growth, but they can still be a good value based on their assets. The book value usually includes equipment, buildings, land and anything else that can be sold, including stock holdings and bonds.
What are the factors that determine the value of a stock?
Every stock has an underlying value, which is based on multiple factors such as past performance, quality of management, its profitability, management efficiency and expected growth in the future. Based on all these factors, you assess a price you are willing to pay for the stock.
What is Valuation?
Valuation is all about assessing the intrinsic value of a stock and compare it with the market price in order to understand whether the stock is trading at right price and if you should invest in it. What is intrinsic value? Let me explain, every stock has a business behind it, and every business has a value, which is calculated based on the assets it owns, the cash it has, and it’s estimated future growth and how much capital it can generate in the future from its business.
What is intrinsic value?
Based in all these factors, the value of a business is calculated called intrinsic value. Valuation of any stock is all about comparing the intrinsic value and the market value of the stock, and understand if the stock is cheap or expensive.
What is discounted cash flow method?
In discounted cash flow method, we take last few years of average free cash flow (free cash flow is the cash left with the company after paying for all the capital expenditures) and make predictions about future cash flows based on expected growth rate and discounting the same to the present value in order to arrive at a conclusion of the stock is under or overvalued.
What is the second approach to valuation?
The second approach on how to value a stock is relative valuation. Relative valuation is more popular, and a relatively easier method of valuing a stock.
What is absolute valuation?
Absolute valuation is all about understanding the value of a stock and determining the price you are willing to pay for it. If the value of the stock is lower than the price, it becomes a great investment. But how do you assess the value of a stock?
How many valuation models are there?
There are three different valuation models you can use to value a stock, Some of them are very easy to implement, others are slightly lengthy and little difficult. However, all these valuation models are widely used by analysts and investors. Let’s look at each of them and find out how to value a stock. Ready? Read on…
What is stock valuation?
Stock valuation methods can be primarily categorized into two main types: absolute and relative. 1. Absolute. Absolute stock valuation relies on the company’s fundamental information. The method generally involves the analysis of various financial information that can be found in or derived from a company’s financial statements.
What is the process of valuing stocks?
Valuing stocks is an extremely complicated process that can be generally viewed as a combination of both art and science. Investors may be overwhelmed by the amount of available information that can be potentially used in valuing stocks (company’s financials, newspapers, economic reports.
What is intrinsic value in stock valuation?
Intrinsic Value The intrinsic value of a business (or any investment security) is the present value of all expected future cash flows, discounted at the appropriate discount rate.
What is dividend discount?
The dividend discount model is one of the basic techniques of absolute stock valuation. The DDM is based on the assumption that the company’s dividends represent the company’s cash flow to its shareholders.
What is intrinsic valuation?
Unlike relative forms of valuation that look at comparable companies, intrinsic valuation looks only at the inherent value of a business on its own. (or theoretical value) of a stock. The importance of valuing stocks evolves from the fact that the intrinsic value of a stock is not attached to its current price.
Stock Valuation Metrics
One of the most commonly cited stock valuation metrics is the Price-to-Earnings Ratio or P/E Ratio. It can help you determine if a share is a good investment compared to a similar company’s P/E Ratios. Also, you can compare the stock’s current P/E ratio to the stock’s long-term average P/E ratio.
Stock Valuation Formulas
Here are a couple of things before we dive in. First, each company’s earnings and book value are available in their quarterly (10-Q) and annual (10-K) SEC filings. Those filings are public on the SEC website. Most stock companies also post SEC filings on the Investor Relations page of their websites.
Putting It All Together
To be a great investor, you also need to be patient. Patients are required not only to wait for shares to become cheap. Patients are also required to wait for the price to gravitate to its intrinsic value. The whole process will take years! Great investors have a knack of using stock valuation metrics to estimate intrinsic value.
About BJ Cook
BJ Cook is a long-time stock nerd. He has held several roles in the equity research world and earned the right to use the CFA designation in 2014. When he’s not writing for Investment U, you can find him searching for new investment ideas. Outside the investment community, BJ is a die-hard Cubs fan.
Why do companies value private shares?
Valuation of private shares is often a common occurrence to settle shareholder disputes, when shareholders are seeking to exit the business, for an inheritance, and many other reasons .
Why is it so hard to value private company shares?
Updated May 29, 2020. Share ownership in a private company is usually quite difficult to value due to the absence of a public market for the shares. Unlike public companies that have the price per share widely available, shareholders of private companies have to use a variety of methods to determine the approximate value of their shares.
What is the most common method of valuing a private company?
The most common method for valuing a private company is comparable company analysis, which compares the valuation ratios of the private company to a comparable public company. There's also the DCF valuation, which is more complicated than a comparable company analysis.
How to compare valuation ratios?
If you are able to find a company or group of companies of relatively the same size and similar business operations, then you can take the valuation multiples such as the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio and apply it to the private company.
What are the methods used to value private companies?
Methods for valuing private companies could include valuation ratios, discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, or internal rate of return (IRR).
How much is 10,000 shares worth?
If you own 10,000 shares, your equity stake would be worth approximately $300,000.
Is DCF valuation more complicated than comparable company analysis?
There's also the DCF valuation, which is more complicated than a comparable company analysis.
How to Calculate Share Price?
To calculate a stock’s market cap, you must first calculate the stock’s market price. Take the most recent updated value of the firm stock and multiply it by the number of outstanding shares to determine the value of the stocks for traders.
Share Price Formula in IPO
Via the primary market, firm stocks are first issued to the general public in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to collect money to meet financial needs.
Conclusion
Stock prices are also depending on market sentiments. A stock at higher value looks cheaper in a bull market and a stock with lower value looks expensive in a bear market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let's suppose Heromoto's P/E ratio has been 18.53 in the past. 2465 divided by 148.39 = 16.6 times the current P/E ratio. The present stock price should be 18 times its historical P/E ratio if it were trading at its historical P/E ratio of 18. 2754 is equal to 148.39. On this criteria, Heromoto's present stock price is undervalued.
How to find common stock?
Common Stock Common stocks are the number of shares of a company and are found in the balance sheet. It is calculated by subtracting retained earnings from total equity. read more
What is par value of shares?
What is Par value of Share? Par value of shares also known as the stated value per share is the minimal shares value as decided by the company which is issuing such shares to the public and the companies then will not sell such type of shares to the public below the decided value.
What does "no par value" mean?
That means corporations are not having any kind of legal obligations to their debt holders. Though the par value usually is so low that no par value also won’t provide much of the difference.
What is par value?
Par value is just a notional number that doesn’t say anything about the market value of shares.
What is shareholder equity?
The broad classification Shareholder’s equity is that the first one is “ paid in capital. Paid In Capital Paid in Capital is the capital amount that a Company receives from investors in exchange for the stock sold in the primary market, including common or preferred stock.
Does par value affect book value?
Before raising capital, a corporation owner must be aware of par value though it doesn’t affect the book value of market value by much.
Can companies issue no par value?
Nowadays, if not required by law, then companies may choose to issue no par value.