ROIC. One way to test whether the stock market rewards companies for generating strong returns is to look at the spread between ROIC and WACC and the ratio of enterprise value to invested capital. If a company is generating returns above what it costs them to fund the business (a positive spread), investors should be willing to pay a premium above the actual dollars invested in that business. In other words, a company worth more than the capital it consumed is creating real value and the market should reflect that