An identical physical facility with the same capacity to produce can have different values in the marketplace at different times, depending on the degree to which the investing public feels confident about the ability of the firm to perceive and respond to the future environments in which the plant will be turning out goods and services.
The value of a steel mill, which has an unchanging ability to turn out sheet steel, for example, can vary widely in the marketplace depending on the level of interest rates, the overall rate of inflation, and a number of other factors that have nothing to do with the engineering aspects of the production of steel.