If a company has a book value that's greater than it's market value, will its stock price jump if it's announced that the company will be liquidated?
1 Answer
In theory, yes. But in practice, no. Book value is calculated using historical costs of assets, and estimated depreciation. This may or may not match up with the value you'll actually get during liquidation. Notably, assets are often sold at a significant discount during liquidations.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bvps.asp
In theory, BVPS is the sum that shareholders would receive in the event that the firm was liquidated, all of the tangible assets were sold and all of the liabilities were paid. However, as the assets would be sold at market prices, and book value uses the historical costs of assets, market value is considered a better floor price than book value for a company.
