How net asset value turns a balance sheet into a per-share figure
NAV answers a deceptively simple question: after a fund or company settles everything it owes, how much is each share actually worth on paper? You start with total assets — cash, securities, receivables, and anything else the entity owns — then subtracttotal liabilities to get net assets. Dividing that net figure by the shares or units outstanding gives the value attributable to a single share. It is the same accounting idea that underlies theprice-to-book calculator, only expressed as a clean per-unit number that funds quote and transact at directly.
The net asset value formula
NAV = (Total assets − Total liabilities) ÷ Shares outstanding
where total assets is everything owned, total liabilities is everything owed, and the numerator (assets − liabilities) is the net assets. Shares outstanding can be fund units or company shares. For open-end funds this NAV is the transaction price; for exchange-traded vehicles it is the benchmark the market price is compared against.
What makes this calculator different
- It shows both layers. You see thenet assets total (assets minus liabilities) and theper-share NAV side by side, so you understand how the lump sum becomes a per-unit figure.
- Works for funds and companies. The same calculation applies whether you are valuing a mutual fund's units or an operating company's shares — just plug in the right share or unit count.
- Explains premium and discount to NAV. Because closed-end funds and ETFs can trade above or below NAV, the tool frames the result as the benchmark you measure that gap against, rather than treating it as the market price.
Frequently asked questions
What is net asset value (NAV)?+
Net asset value is the per-share net worth of a fund or company. You take everything it owns (total assets), subtract everything it owes (total liabilities), and divide the result by the number of shares or units outstanding. The formula is simply (total assets − total liabilities) ÷ shares outstanding. The numerator is often called net assets, and dividing by share count turns that lump sum into a clean per-unit figure you can compare against a market price.
How is NAV used for mutual funds?+
For open-end mutual funds, NAV is the price. Investors buy and sell units directly with the fund at NAV rather than trading them on an exchange. Crucially, that NAV is struck only once a day, after the market closes, when the fund values all of its holdings. Any order you place during the day transacts at that single end-of-day NAV, which is why mutual funds do not have minute-to-minute prices the way stocks do.
What is a premium or discount to NAV?+
Closed-end funds and ETFs trade on an exchange, so their market price is set by buyers and sellers and can drift away from the underlying NAV. When the market price sits above NAV, the fund trades at a premium; when it sits below, it trades at a discount. The gap is usually quoted as a percentage of NAV. Persistent discounts are common in closed-end funds, while ETFs tend to stay close to NAV because authorized participants arbitrage the difference.
How is NAV different from market price?+
NAV is a book-based measure of net worth: it is what the accounting says each share is worth after netting assets against liabilities. Market price is simply what buyers are willing to pay right now, which reflects sentiment, liquidity, and expectations, not just the books. For open-end funds the two are the same by construction, but for exchange-traded vehicles and operating companies they can diverge meaningfully and persistently.
How often is NAV calculated?+
For most funds, NAV is calculated once at the end of each trading day, after markets close and all holdings can be marked to their closing prices. That daily strike is the standard for open-end mutual funds. Some ETFs also publish an intraday indicative value during trading hours, but the official NAV that orders settle against is still the end-of-day figure. Companies, by contrast, only update the inputs to NAV when they report financial statements.
Disclaimer: This calculator is foreducation and illustration only. NAV is a book-based accounting measure and may differ from the market price at which shares or units actually trade, especially for closed-end funds and ETFs. Nothing here is investment, tax, or trading advice.