Net Present Value (NPV) Calculator

About this calculator

Net present value (NPV) discounts a series of future cash flows back to today's value and subtracts the initial investment, so that money received later counts for less than money received now: NPV = Σ [CF / (1+r)ᵗ] − Initial Investment, where r is the discount rate (reflecting the cost of capital or required rate of return) and t is the period of each cash flow. For a project with equal periodic cash flows, this simplifies to an annuity present-value calculation.

Corporate finance analysts, investors, and business owners use NPV as the standard test for whether a project or investment is worth pursuing: a positive NPV means the investment is expected to create value above the required rate of return, while a negative NPV means it's expected to destroy value even before accounting for risk. Enter the periodic cash flow, discount rate, number of periods, and initial investment to find the NPV.