Definition of 'Q Ratio (Tobin's Q Ratio)'

A ratio devised by James Tobin of Yale University, Nobel laureate in economics, who
hypothesized that the combined market value of all the companies on the stock market
should be about equal to their replacement costs. The Q ratio is calculated as the market
value of a company divided by the replacement value of the firm's assets:

Investopedia explains 'Q Ratio (Tobin's Q Ratio)'

For example, a low Q (between 0 and 1) means that the cost to replace a firm's assets is
greater than the value of its stock. This implies that the stock is undervalued.
Conversely, a high Q (greater than 1) implies that a firm's stock is more expensive than
the replacement cost of its assets, which implies that the stock is overvalued. This
measure of stock valuation is the driving factor behind investment decisions in Tobin's
model.