Invested capital
The money put into the business and working inside it: equity plus debt, less cash balances not employed in operations.
How to read the number
The denominator of return on invested capital: what was included in it decides the conclusion about the quality of the business.
When the metric lies
There is no single definition: whether to include goodwill, leases and surplus cash is the analyst's choice. Somebody else's figure without its definition is not comparable.
Also known as: capital employed