And there is Tobin's q, a ratio of the stockmarket value to the replacement cost of its tangible assets an attempt to measure what it would cost to recreate a company from scratch.
Fortunately, the Big Board contains a quotient of intrinsic value embedded in tangible corporate assets, then average earning power cycle to cycle and dividend paying capacity.
Whereas tangibleassets like plant and equipment drove a company's value during much of the past century, intangible assets such as brands, patents and trademarks are what create value today.
In both cases what really makes the entity valuable and successful is the very special way the intangibles and tangibleassets come together to generate a present valueof future net income.