Enterprise Value Calculator

Enterprise value (EV) is a company's market capitalization plus its debt, minus its cash. Enter those three figures in the same unit, such as millions of dollars, and the calculator does the sum.

The CFA Institute's 2026 reading on valuation multiples is more precise. It counts the market value of debt, common equity and preferred equity, "minus the value of cash and investments." To match it, add any preferred stock to the debt box and investments to the cash box.

One quirk: a negative entry in the debt or cash box counts as zero. Enter net cash through the cash box, never as negative debt. The result itself can fall below zero.

Where each number sits in a 10-K

On the cover page, Form 10-K asks for the shares outstanding of each class of common stock. The count is as of "the latest practicable date." Multiply each class by its current price, which the market capitalization calculator does for you, and add the results.

Don't use the market value printed on the cover. It's the "aggregate market value" of common equity "held by non-affiliates," so it leaves out shares held by affiliates. It's also computed as of the last business day of the second fiscal quarter, six months before year-end.

Debt and cash come from the balance sheet. Per Investor.gov, Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data," requires the audited statements, balance sheets included. The SEC's beginners' guide separates current liabilities, expected to be paid off within the year, from long-term ones. Take borrowings from both.

Your share price is today's, but the balance sheet can be months old. Investor.gov notes that a 10-Q must be filed after each of the first three fiscal quarters, so use the newest. Every 10-K and 10-Q is public on the SEC's EDGAR website.

Total liabilities isn't total debt

The field says "Total debt," which is narrower than total liabilities. The SEC's guide lists what liabilities can include: bank borrowing, rent, money owed to suppliers, payroll, cleanup costs and taxes. Only the bank borrowing is lenders' money. Rent raises the lease question below, and the rest comes from running the business.

Take a hypothetical retailer with a $2,400m market cap and $250m of cash. It owes $600m in loans and bonds and has $150m of preferred stock. Its balance sheet also carries $900m of operating lease liabilities and $800m of payables, payroll and taxes:

Copying total liabilities gives $4,450m, about 53% more than the $2,900m from loans, bonds and preferred stock. Whether leases belong there depends on your EBITDA.

Pensions and noncontrolling (minority) interests have no box either. The SEC's guide notes that the footnotes discuss a company's pension plans. If you count an unfunded plan as debt, add the shortfall there.

Why EV/EBITDA looks past the financing

EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. In the CFA Institute's words, "EBITDA, as a pre-interest number, is a flow to all providers of capital." EV counts those same lenders and shareholders, so the two belong together. The reading adds that EV/EBITDA "may be more appropriate than P/E" for comparing companies with different debt levels.

A buyback shows why. A company with a $3,000m market cap, $500m of debt and $700m of cash buys back $400m of shares. It pays once with new debt and once with its own cash, at an unchanged share price:

Market cap falls by about 13% either way, and net debt swings from −$200m to $200m. EV stays at $2,800m, and with EBITDA unchanged, so does EV/EBITDA. The EBITDA multiple calculator works out the ratio for your own figures.

Operating leases: count the debt and the rent together

The FASB's lease standard, Topic 842, issued in February 2016, puts leases on the balance sheet. A lessee records a right-of-use asset and a lease liability. Leases of 12 months or less can stay off if the company makes that policy election.

The income statement still treats the two lease types differently. For a finance lease, interest on the liability appears separately from amortization of the asset. An operating lease produces "a single lease cost," spread over the term "on a generally straight-line basis." That cost is neither interest nor amortization, so EBITDA has already deducted it.

If operating lease liabilities go in the debt box, add that cost back to EBITDA. That gives EBITDAR, earnings before rent as well. Say the retailer reports $400m of EBITDA after $110m of operating lease cost:

The two consistent pairings land at 7.25 and 7.45 times. The mixed one says 9.50, so the same retailer looks about 31% more expensive. Whichever version you pick, use it for every company you compare.

When cash is bigger than debt

If a company holds more cash than debt, its net debt is negative and EV drops below market cap. The net debt calculator shows that gap on its own. Three hypothetical companies:

The first two share a market cap, yet their EVs differ by $800m. The third has an EV of −$120m: the market values its shares below its cash. Before calling that a bargain, check the latest 10-Q, which may show far less cash.

All companies here are hypothetical, and nothing on this page is investment advice.

Sources

• CFA Institute, Market-Based Valuation: Price and Enterprise Value Multiples (2026 refresher reading)
• SEC, Form 10-K (SEC 1673, revision 02-25)
• Investor.gov (SEC), How to Read a 10-K/10-Q (January 25, 2021)
• SEC, Beginners' Guide to Financial Statement (February 4, 2007)
• FASB, Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-02, Leases (Topic 842), Section A (February 2016)