what is book value 
book value is the net value of a company s assets as recorded on its balance sheet it s calculated by subtracting a company s total liabilities from its total assets essentially book value reflects the amount that would be left over for shareholders if a company were to liquidate all its assets and pay off all its debts this measure provides insight into a company s intrinsic value and is often used by investors to gauge whether a stock is overvalued or undervalued 5the bottom linein finance face value refers to the nominal or dollar value of a security stated by the issuer this is also known as par value or par typically about bonds face value differs from market value which is the security price based on supply and demand with bonds face value refers to the amount paid to the bondholder at maturity although as with stocks bond market prices can fluctuate if sold on the secondary market historically face value ensured companies didn t sell stocks below a specific price as a data point in a time of limited information face value also protected shareholders for issuers face value created a value expectation when shares were sold 