How can the share price of a company be less than its (theoretical) liquidation value?
A company can have a positive book value and still be in trouble because of insolvency.  This is very common with banks.  Banks operate by borrowing short term to buy long term assets.  This is inherently risky and vulnerable to a liquidity crisis.  A bank can show a profit and positive book value and still be in a world of trouble.  If investors feel that a bank will not be able to rollover their short term debt, then the bank will be in trouble.  Selling their long term assets will not be the answer because long term assets are by their very natural not very liquidable.  You can never trust a bank's balance sheet nor their income statement.  A more accurate assessment of a bank would be of their cashflow, maturity mismatching and credit rating.