How Do You Calculate Enterprise Value?

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Calculate Enterprise Value

Enterprise Value (EV) is a measure of a company’s total value, often used as a more comprehensive alternative to equity market capitalization. EV includes in its calculation not only the market capitalization of a company but also short-term and long-term debt as well as any cash on the company’s balance sheet.

Enterprise Value is calculated as follows:

Enterprise Value = Market Capitalization + Total Debt – Cash and Cash Equivalents

Here’s what each component means:

Market Capitalization: This is the total value of all a company’s shares of stock. It is equal to the company’s share price times the number of shares outstanding.
Total Debt: This is the sum of a company’s short-term and long-term debt.

Cash and Cash Equivalents: This includes cash and highly liquid securities that a company owns.

The reasoning behind subtracting cash and equivalents is that a potential acquirer could use the cash to pay off part of the acquired company’s debts.

The Enterprise Value gives a more accurate view of a company’s worth and its financial structure. It can be especially useful when comparing companies that have different capital structures, providing a more accurate picture of total value than market capitalization alone.

Example of How to Calculate Enterprise Value

Let’s consider a hypothetical company, Company A, to calculate its Enterprise Value (EV).

Market Capitalization: Assume Company A’s current stock price is $50 and there are 1 million shares outstanding. Therefore, the Market Capitalization would be $50 * 1,000,000 = $50,000,000.
Total Debt: Assume Company A has $10,000,000 in short-term debt and $20,000,000 in long-term debt. Therefore, the total debt would be $10,000,000 + $20,000,000 = $30,000,000.