This total should include value of any cash on hand on the valuation date, as well as any short term or long term assets held by the fund.

The fund’s prospectus will list each of its assets and liabilities. Download the prospectus online or call for it by phone. Most newspapers will have daily stock listings showing the closing price of any publicly traded stock.

For mutual funds, NAV per share is calculated every day. It is based on the closing prices of the securities in the fund. [3] X Research source Buy and sell orders for mutual funds are processed based on the NAV for the date. Since the NAV is calculated at the close of business, investors must wait until the next business day to make the trade at that price. [4] X Research source

Mutual funds are required by law to distribute capital gains (positive cash flow from the purchase and sale of stock with mutual funds) to fund shareholders. This is different than a share of stock, where the holder receives capital gains as an increase to share price, not a direct pay out. For this reason, the NAV of a fund isn’t enough on its own to evaluate long-term performance of a fund.

From 1926 to the present, the annualized return for the S&P 500 has been about 10 percent. The annualized return from Sept 2005 to Sept 2015 for S&P 500 has been about 7%. [5] X Research source Note that returns can vary depending upon holding period, and that returns of individual stocks can vary significantly. You should compare your total return rate to the return rate on the stock market for the period you are assessing, while considering your overall acceptable return rate.

Most investment strategists caution against using the NAV to value your investment in the same way you might value an investment in stock using the daily stock price. Because mutual funds pay out all of their income and capital gains to shareholders, (besides the management fees charged to operate the fund), successful mutual funds don’t have to increase their NAV over time. They instead need to maintain NAV while providing interest payments to shareholders.

Choose your valuation date and use the balance sheet as of that date. If necessary, restate assets and liabilities to fair market value. This means restating the value of the company’s assets and liabilities for what they could be bought or sold in the current market. This might apply to assets such as inventory, capital equipment and property and liabilities such as litigation or warranty accruals. Include any unrecorded assets and liabilities that are not reflected on the balance sheet but may still impact the company’s value. For instance, any pending litigation that might result in the company needing to make a payment within the next operating cycle. [7] X Research source Include the estimated amount the company may lose. Subtract liabilities from assets, and divide by the total number of common shares to get the NAV per share or the company. For example, suppose a company had $120 million in assets and $100 million in liabilities and 10 million common shares. Assets minus liabilities equal $20 million. Net asset value per share equals $20 million /10 million = $2 per share.

Begin with an appraisal of the REIT’s properties. One method is to divide the operating income of the properties (revenues minus operating expenses) by the capitalization rate (which is the expected rate of return on a property based on its income). [11] X Research source For example, if the total operating income of an REIT is $200 million and the average capitalization rate is 7 percent, the value of the properties would be $286 million ($200 million / 7 percent = $286 million). Once you have the value of the properties, deduct the liabilities, such as the mortgage debt still owed to get the NAV. For example, suppose the total mortgage debt and other liabilities in the above example equals $187 million. The NAV equals $286 million - $187 million = $99 million. Divide the NAV by the number of common shares. Suppose there are 30 million shares. The NAV per share would be $99 million / 30 million = $3. 30 per share. The quoted prices per share for the REIT should theoretically be close to the NAV per share.

The process to calculate the investment value of a variable insurance policy is similar to the process used for mutual funds.