Investment sometimes may be a confusing thing, especially when we talk about value and price. There may be many kinds of value but none if it should be always equal to value. Price and value are different things and every man/woman should know that, especially if he is investing in any kind of investment.
There are two main values in investment: market value and par value. Let's read about each of them.
Market Value
Real value is the value set by market or other valuations methods that represent the market value the best. Of course market can represent the self the best, at least in most cases because it is an equilibrium of many participants between supply and demand.
The thing about market value is that sometimes market conditions maybe ruined by some unnatural intrusion which would make significant affect to the value and in that case it could be important in market value determination.
Par Value
In any case market value doesn't mean the same as book value (nominal value) also most commonly called par value. Par value is more accounting meaning than practical for stocks because do not have a lot of influence for such value formatting.
However, nominal value is very important characteristic for bonds because shows the price of the redemption if there will be no default of a issuer of the bond. But for stocks it is not an even necessary attribute. There are much more important characteristics to look, as market capitalization, valuations multiples for relative valuation, value of discounter cash flows and etc.
The most important thing is not to mix value and price. You have to know the value before determining the price for selling or buying of any object!
