The right price for a stock is market price at a given moment in time. Liquidation value would have been more appropriate because it is what would cost someone to acquire similar assets and start a company in the same business but liquidation value doesn’t take into account certain non-tangible assets such as brand names and customer loyalty (Investopedia). A company with a an established brand name like ExxonMobil is definitely more valuable than a company that has exactly the same balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow position. Market price reflects what the potential buyers are willing to pay even though at times their expectations may be guided more by emotions rather than business fundamentals. But it is at least the price which is the average of conclusions regarding stock value reached by different investors.

Yes, I would value a privately-owned company differently from a publicly owned company because publicly owned companies are required to file financial statements with the SEC regularly (Financial Newsline) in addition to being traded on the stock exchange while the privately-owned companies are not. This means that I will have historical data available for publicly limited company and I can also contact the company for questions I may have. The availability of data and historical performance means I will be able to reach a more reliable estimation of the company’s value. In addition, many other industry participants will also carry out their analysis some of which will be publicly available and I can compare my assumptions with them. The market price will also give me some information about the market expectations of the company’s future. But a privately held company will not be obliged to provide information so I will only have to rely on partial information that I could find and fill in the rest of the blanks myself much of which will be speculation. The lack of data will make privately limited company a more risky and speculative investment. Yes, there is a difference between price and value. Value is what the company is really worth which is usually best known by the insiders or those with the most information. Price is what the market thinks the worth of the company is, based on its expectations and assumptions behind value calculations.