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1-1 A firm’s intrinsic value is an estimate of a stock’s “true” value based on accurate risk and return data. It can be estimated but not measured precisely. A stock’s current price is its market price—the value based on perceived but possibly incorrect information as seen by the marginal investor. From these definitions, you can see that a stock’s “true” long-run value is more closely related to its intrinsic value rather than its current price.

1-2 Equilibrium is the situation where the actual market price equals the intrinsic value, so investors are indifferent between buying or selling a stock. If a stock is in equilibrium then there is no fundamental imbalance, hence no pressure for a change in the stock’s price. At any given time, most stocks are reasonably close to their intrinsic values and thus are at or close to equilibrium. However, at times stock prices and equilibrium values are different, so stocks can be temporarily undervalued or overvalued.

1-4 If a stock’s market price and intrinsic value are equal, then the stock is in equilibrium and there is no pressure (buying/selling) to change the stock’s price. So, theoretically, it is better that the two be equal; however, intrinsic value is a long-run concept. Management’s goal should be to maximize the firm’s intrinsic value, not its current price. So, maximizing the intrinsic value will maximize the average price over the long run but not necessarily the current price at each point in time. So, stockholders in general would probably expect the firm’s market price to be under the intrinsic value—realizing that if management is doing its job that current price at any point in time would not necessarily be maximized. However, the CEO would prefer that the market price be high—since it is the current price that he will receive when exercising his stock options. In addition, he will be retiring after exercising those options, so there will be no repercussions to him...