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Not investment advice. Educational reading. See Disclaimer.
L.3 · BEGINNER · 3 MIN

ROIC: The Truth About Business Quality

ROIC measures how well a company uses ALL capital invested in it, not just equity. It is the single best metric for judging whether a business truly creates value.

Quiz · 5 questions ↓
§ 01
ROIC = NOPAT / Invested Capital
§ 02
AAPL — ROIC, Operating Margin, Debt/Equity. Open AAPL on the Ledge to see current values.
§ 03

The magic number: if ROIC exceeds the company's cost of capital (WACC), every dollar invested creates more than a dollar of value. If ROIC is below WACC, the company is destroying value.

§ 04
ROIC vs WACCMeaningStock Implication
ROIC 20% > WACC 10%Creates value: earns more than cost of capitalDeserves premium valuation
ROIC 8% = WACC 8%Breaks even on capitalFair value = book value
ROIC 5% < WACC 10%Destroys value: earns less than capital costsStock should trade below book
§ 05
Check the **ROIC** metric for any ticker. Compare it to the company's WACC if available. Is this business creating or destroying value?
§ 06

ROIC is the ultimate test of business quality. A company that consistently earns ROIC above 15% has a durable competitive advantage, which Buffett calls a moat.

§ 07
Company X has ROIC of 8% and WACC of 10%. Management wants to reinvest every dollar back into the business. As a shareholder, what do you prefer?
Five questions · AI feedback

Sit with the ideas.

A company has ROIC of 8% and its WACC is 10%. What does this mean?

Why:
Try this in paper trading

Identify the moat. Then size the position.

Pick a company. Articulate its moat in one sentence: switching costs, network effects, intangibles, cost advantage, or efficient scale. Paper-buy a position size proportional to your confidence in that moat surviving 10 years.

Open paper portfolio →

Practice mode — simulated trades, not investment advice.

See it on a real ticker →