The value of the company has nothing to do with what they have done in the past and everything to do with what they can do in the future. 25 million cert cards issued may say something about the future but you cannot divide the company price by that and determine anything. 25 million cert cards being issued per year would be a meaningful divisor and say something about income.
As I mentioned, it's not a direct correlation, however, value is intrinsic and subjective. It's also only worth what someone will pay for it. So in the end, price to stock, price to earnings, and even a company that has tangible assets only has value if a second party says it does. The dollar bill has no real value only that we say it does. Even gold has value because we say it's valuable. Yes, there's not a lot of it on earth, but there is even less of other elements.
I beg to differ about dividing the sale price of the company into the number of certs issued not being relevant. I have very little I can compare and contrast across the board to a company like PADI but I can compare my company's business model and what its value is and the number of certification cards I've issued and correlate a statistical relevance.
When someone says you're comparing apples and oranges, comparatively they are fruit, the contain vitamins and minerals, they each grow on trees, they each can be held in one's hand like a baseball, they both can be juiced into popular beverages, and they each may contain seeds, and so forth...
In the end, my conclusion is that each student that I teach and subsequently issue a certification card to is more valuable to me than PADI's are to them. The dive shop owners I've know say that they might make $50 on a student if they make any. My profit is higher not just because I ask that they pay for the services they get from me, but I price in what my expenses and overhead accordingly. If the dive shop is charging for group classes what i charge for private and individual certification, then that means the dive shop should be charging more, a lot more. And when a dive shop makes little for the effort and risk associated with teaching a diver, it's the just culture that tells them they can't charge what they should be. A dive shop business owner can charge what ever they want. Why does every dive shop follow an industry model of <$50 profit per student? It's PADI's and SSI's business model. I took my business banking experience and when I went into scuba and saw how shops are running themselves into the ground, I didn't follow. Again, all just my opinion and perspective, but the industry is broken and it will only get worse if it doesn't change the way it does business.
Look at the tech industry and education. I paid $600 for advanced Nitrox and Decompression procedures, $2000 to get to advanced trimix, and $2000 for cave training. Those instructors didn't charge any amout above and beyond what the industry is charging. Why do all the agencies and thusly shops put a premium on tech, because both sides value it. Recreational is only valued by the agency side. I'm my case, NAUI granted me the ability to create a program that crates great divers AND i charge what I feel it's worth today. I've raised my prices 3 times since I went independent. I've even changed what is included in that cost. That's not rocket science it's good business.