Is book value the excellent proxy to the value of shares

Question

Is book value the excellent proxy to the value of the shares?

Answer 1

No. This would be a miracle when the number which appears in the Shareholders’ Equity had anything to do along with the value of the shares. While we have a look at the relation among the market value and the book value of all the Spanish companies into the continuous market, we enter at several conclusions:

a) In February 2005 and December 2006 where there was no company that market value equalled its book value;

b) The average in February 2005 was 4.1 and in December 2006 it was 4.6 and

c) There was just one company in December 2006 which market value was lower than its book value. If we repeat similar exercise for the companies involved in the S and P 500, we can see that, in February 2005 and in December 2006, there was no company whose market value equaled its book value; the average was 3.8 in 2005 as well as 4.5 in 2006.