It stands for present value; the value that is calculated today for a stream of future payments associated with, i.e., generated from, an instrument/ a security/ a product/ an investment, etc. It is calculated by discounting payments due in the future and summing them up in a single figure. It is the value today of a future payment, or stream of payments (cash flows), discounted at a specific interest rate (compound interest or discount rate). For example, the present value of $1,000 to be received 5 years from now is about $620.921 by application of a discount rate of 10% interest compounded annually.

For a debt security or similar structure, the present value is used alongside the yield as a key input for analyzing the value of the security and its performance over time.

PV may also denote par value.