12 January 2011
Enterprise value (EV), Total enterprise value (TEV), or Firm value (FV) is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a whole business. It is a sum of claims of all the security-holders: debtholders, preferred shareholders, minority shareholders, common equity holders, and others.
EV is more comprehensive than market capitalization (market cap), which only includes common equity.
It is also often used as an alternative to straightforward market capitalization. Enterprise value is calculated as market cap plus debt, minority interest and preferred shares, minus total cash and cash equivalents.