Highest return-on-invested-capital companies
Companies ranked by return on invested capital (ROIC), computed from each company’s own latest 10-K: NOPAT (operating income × (1 − the year’s effective tax rate, bounded 0–50%)) divided by invested capital (total debt, leases excluded, + stockholders’ equity − cash), averaged over the fiscal year’s opening and closing balance sheets. Where the 10-K tags no operating income, the numerator is EBIT = pre-tax income + interest expense, and the Numerator column says so for that row. A company whose filing does not support the calculation — neither operating income nor interest tagged, a pre-tax loss, debt reported only together with finance leases, a bank or insurer — gets no ROIC rather than an estimate. A company whose cash offsets more than 80% of its debt and equity (invested capital under 20% of debt plus equity) gets no ROIC either, because the ratio would divide by a small residual.
2216 companies have no ROIC from their filings and are left out: pre-tax loss 828; bank or insurer 468; no debt line tagged 226; no pre-tax income tagged 195; debt filed only with finance leases 120; no operating income tagged 84; debt under a line we do not read 75; negative or zero equity 60; no operating income or interest tagged 49; not a US-GAAP filer 47; interest implies unread debt 25; fiscal year over 18 months old 13; invested capital not positive 7; cash offsets most of its capital 7; no cash tagged 7; no tax expense tagged 3; no fiscal-year-end balance sheet 2.
Ranked by ROIC: companies 101–125 of 906.
| # | Company | Sector | ROIC | Numerator | Operating margin | Market cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | Verisk Analytics (VRSK) | Industrials | 26.6% | Operating income | 43.7% | $25.5B |
| 102 | Paylocity (PCTY) | Information Technology | 26.5% | Operating income | 21.8% | $9.1B |
| 103 | Home Depot (The) (HD) | Consumer Discretionary | 26.1% | Operating income | 12.7% | $328.4B |
| 104 | Paychex (PAYX) | Industrials | 26.1% | Operating income | 38.6% | $39.9B |
| 105 | Dutch Bros Inc. (BROS) | Consumer Discretionary | 25.5% | Operating income | 9.8% | $7.5B |
| 106 | Graco Inc. (GGG) | Industrials | 25.0% | Operating income | 27.9% | $10.8B |
| 107 | Merck & Co. (MRK) | Health Care | 24.7% | EBIT = pre-tax income + interest (no operating income tagged) | n/a | $368.9B |
| 108 | Lincoln Electric (LECO) | Industrials | 24.5% | Operating income | 17.0% | $15.0B |
| 109 | Universal Technical Institute Inc (UTI) | Consumer Discretionary | 24.4% | Operating income | 10.0% | $1.2B |
| 110 | Old Dominion (ODFL) | Industrials | 24.2% | Operating income | n/a | $35.8B |
| 111 | Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) | Industrials | 24.2% | Operating income | 9.2% | $10.5B |
| 112 | BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) | Consumer Staples | 24.1% | Operating income | 3.8% | $13.6B |
| 113 | Western Union (WU) | Information Technology | 23.9% | Operating income | 18.7% | $1.9B |
| 114 | Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY) | Financials | 23.8% | Operating income | 25.0% | $11.3B |
| 115 | Carpenter Technology Corporation (CRS) | Materials | 23.7% | Operating income | 22.5% | $14.0B |
| 116 | EXL Service (EXLS) | Industrials | 23.5% | Operating income | 15.0% | $6.2B |
| 117 | J Jill Inc (JILL) | Consumer Discretionary | 23.5% | Operating income | 8.5% | $356M |
| 118 | Pacs Group Inc (PACS) | Health Care | 22.9% | Operating income | 5.9% | $7.6B |
| 119 | Gilead Sciences (GILD) | Health Care | 22.9% | Operating income | 34.0% | $211.7B |
| 120 | Mercado Libre (MELI) | Consumer Discretionary | 22.8% | Operating income | 15.7% | $82.4B |
| 121 | Installed Building Products Inc (IBP) | Consumer Discretionary | 22.7% | Operating income | 13.0% | $5.7B |
| 122 | Solaris Oilfield Infrastructure in (SEI) | Energy | 22.7% | Operating income | 21.8% | $5.6B |
| 123 | Waters Corporation (WAT) | Health Care | 22.6% | Operating income | 25.4% | $45.5B |
| 124 | C.H. Robinson (CHRW) | Industrials | 22.6% | Operating income | 4.9% | $14.6B |
| 125 | Tecnoglass Inc (TGLS) | Industrials | 22.5% | Operating income | 23.5% | $1.7B |
Find more highest return-on-invested-capital companies like these →
Data: SEC EDGAR (filings) + market data (fundamentals, delayed daily-close). Every figure is shown with its as-of date on the company page; a company with no data for this metric is excluded from the ranking, never estimated.
Last updated 2026-10-30 — rankings shift as the underlying data refreshes.
Informational only — NOT financial advice. All figures are delayed daily-close data from SEC EDGAR & market data, shown with their as-of date.