What is Equity Value?

Equity Value, also known as market capitalization, is the total of the shareholders’ values available for the business and can be calculated by multiplying the market value per share by the total number of shares outstanding. It is very important for a business owner, especially when he plans to sell his business, as it gives a good measure of what a seller of business would receive after the debt has been paid.

Equity Value Formula

There are two ways in which you can calculate Market Value of Equity

Formula #1 –

Equity Value = Share Price x Number of Oustanding Shares

  • The share price is the last traded price of the stockThe number of Oustanding shares should be the latest figures available

Formula #2 –

This second equity market value formula is commonly used to find the “fair equity value” (using DCF Approach)

You are free to use this image on you website, templates, etc., Please provide us with an attribution linkHow to Provide Attribution?Article Link to be HyperlinkedFor eg:Source: Equity Value (wallstreetmojo.com)

We use the following steps to calculate the fair equity market value –

  • Use the DCFDCFDiscounted cash flow analysis is a method of analyzing the present value of a company, investment, or cash flow by adjusting future cash flows to the time value of money. This analysis assesses the present fair value of assets, projects, or companies by taking into account many factors such as inflation, risk, and cost of capital, as well as analyzing the company’s future performance.read more approach using FCFF to find the Enterprise valueFind The Enterprise ValueEnterprise value (EV) is the corporate valuation of a company, determined by using market capitalization and total debt.read more of the firm. DCF will provide us with the fair valuation of the total firm (Enterprise value).Use the formula, Enterprise ValueEnterprise ValueEnterprise value (EV) is the corporate valuation of a company, determined by using market capitalization and total debt.read more (calculated using DCF) = Fair Equity Value + Preferred Shares + Minority Interest + Outstanding Debt – Cash & Bank balancesWe can calculate Fair Equity Value = Enterprise Value – Preferred SharesPreferred SharesA preferred share is a share that enjoys priority in receiving dividends compared to common stock. The dividend rate can be fixed or floating depending upon the terms of the issue. Also, preferred stockholders generally do not enjoy voting rights. However, their claims are discharged before the shares of common stockholders at the time of liquidation.read more – Minority InterestMinority InterestMinority interest is the investors’ stakeholding that is less than 50% of the existing shares or the voting rights in the company. The minority shareholders do not have control over the company through their voting rights, thereby having a meagre role in the corporate decision-making.read more – Outstanding Debt + Cash & Bank Balances

Target Price of the stock = Fair Equity Value / Number of Oustanding Shares

Please note that the Market Price of stock and the Target Price of stock are two different things.

Let us assume that the Market Price of Apple is $110 per share. Using DCF, you may get a target priceTarget PricePrice Target in the context of stock markets, means the expected valuation of a stock in the coming future and the valuation may be done either by the stock analysts or by the investors themselves. For an investor, price target reflects the price at which he will be willing to buy or sell the stock at a particular period of time or mark an exit from their current position.read more of Apple stock as $135 per share. This means that Apple is undervalued and should reach the target of $135 per share shortly.

Interpretation

Equity value is more useful to a business seller than an investor. Let’s have a detailed look at this.

Let’s say that Mr. A has a company he wants to sell. Now he is concerned about the valuation of the company. One day, while searching for buyers for his business, Mr. A got a proposal from Mr. B. Mr. B said he would buy Mr. A’s business at a certain valuation. Mr. A went back home and thought about the valuation Mr. B gave. Mr. A mentioned that he had taken some loans for his business, which have not been fully paid yet. Mr. B said he would pay the same as the valuation he had calculated; however, Mr. A will only receive the money after paying the debt. And that’s “market value of equity” in the true sense.

Now let’s understand it in numbers. Mr. B said he would pay the US $10 million for Mr. A’s business before knowing that Mr. A still has to pay some debt. Mr. A mentioned that the outstanding debt is US $2 million. Then Mr. B agreed to pay Mr. A US $10 million for the business, including the outstanding debt. That means Mr. A would only get US $8 million. Here the US $10 million is the enterprise value, and the US $8 million in the equity market value.

Equity Value Example

Let us do a basic example of comparing two companies based on market value and finding the larger one. Here are the details of Company A and Company B –

In this case, we have been given both the numbers of outstanding shares and the market price of shares. So let’s calculate the equity market value of Company A and Company B.

We note that the market value is more than the market value of Company B. But let’s tweak a few things and calculate Enterprise Value and let’s see how it turns out for investors.

Equity Value Calculation

Please have a look at the table below.

source: ycharts

  • Column 1 contains the number of outstanding shares.Column 2 is the current market price.Column 3 is the Equity Value calculation = Shares Outstanding (1) x Price (2)

If you want to calculate the Market Value of Facebook, it is simply the outstanding number of shares (2.872 billion) x Price ($123.18) = $353.73 billion.

Conclusion

In the final analysis, it can be said that equity value is the best method if the owner of a business wants to know how much he would get by selling his business. However, from the investors’ point of view, enterprise value will fit the bill.

Equity Value Video

This article has guided what equity value is and its definition. Here we discuss examples of a firm’s equity value and its interpretations and how it is useful to sellers. You may also look at the following articles to learn more about valuations –

  • Equity Value FormulaEquity Value FormulaEquity Value, also known as market capitalization, is the sum-total of the values the shareholders have made available for the business and can be calculated by multiplying the market value per share by the total number of shares outstanding.read moreMarket Cap vs. Enterprise ValueEV to EBIT CalculationCapital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) Formula