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MOIC Explained: How to Calculate It, and What 1.42x Means

How to calculate MOIC (Multiple on Invested Capital): the formula, a worked example, what 1.42x actually means, and how the multiple differs from MWR and ROI.
MOIC Explained: How to Calculate It, and What 1.42x Means
You put money into your portfolio over the years. In total, how many times over has it come back to you? MOIC answers that in one plain multiple: 1.4x, 2x, 0.8x.
Percentages can be slippery. "Up 42%" sounds different from "1.42x your money", even though they are the same thing. MOIC - Multiple on Invested Capital - is the simplest way to size an outcome: everything your portfolio is worth or has returned, divided by everything you put in.
Built for every reader. No finance background needed. Anything marked For the math curious is optional. The rest is plain English.

The One-Sentence Definition

MOIC asks: for every dollar of capital you invested, how much is it worth now?

1.42x means every $1 you put in is now worth $1.42. 2.0x means you doubled your money. 0.8x means you're down to 80 cents on the dollar.

MOIC is calculated automatically in Turbobulls from your buys, sells, and dividends. See it on your dashboard →

The Intuition: A Simple Multiple

MOIC ignores dates entirely. It just stacks up two totals:

What you put in

Every purchase - the capital you deployed into positions. This is the denominator.

What came back (plus what's still there)

Every sale, every dividend, plus the current market value of what you still hold. This is the numerator.

Divide the second by the first and you get your multiple. A dividend that paid out, a position you sold, and a stock you still hold all count toward "what came back" - because value returned to you or is sitting in your account either way.

MOIC is a size-of-outcome number. It tells you how big the result was, not how good the timing or the annual pace was. That is exactly why it pairs so well with time-based metrics like MWR.

What the Portfolio Badge Means

MOIC carries the Portfolio badge - it looks at only your invested positions and the capital you deployed into them. It ignores wallet cash, debt, and day-to-day income and expenses. Adding cash to your wallet doesn't change how many times your investments returned your capital.

Other Portfolio metrics include ROI (open), MWR, Annualized MWR, Sharpe ratio, and Time-weighted return. Each answers a different question about how your invested capital performed.

How to Calculate MOIC

The formula is one division, which is most of MOIC's appeal:

MOIC = Total value / Total invested

Total value is what the position is worth now plus anything it has already returned to you, dividends and sale proceeds included. Total invested is every euro you put in, at the prices you actually paid.

A worked example. You buy 100 shares at 20 EUR, so 2,000 EUR invested. Two years later the shares are worth 26 EUR each, 2,600 EUR, and you have collected 240 EUR of dividends along the way.

  • Total value = 2,600 + 240 = 2,840 EUR
  • Total invested = 2,000 EUR
  • MOIC = 2,840 / 2,000 = 1.42x

Your money came back 1.42 times over. Note what the formula does not contain: any mention of time. The same 1.42x over eight years would be a far worse outcome, and MOIC would not tell you. That is what MWR is for, and why the two belong side by side rather than in competition.

If you would rather not do the division yourself, Turbobulls calculates MOIC for every holding and for the portfolio as a whole, and keeps it current as you add transactions.

How to Read the Number

MOICWhat it means
< 1.0xYou're down - less has come back than you put in.
1.0xBreak-even. Every dollar is still worth a dollar.
1.0x - 2.0xIn profit. 1.5x means +50% on the capital you deployed.
2.0x - 3.0xDoubled or tripled your money.
> 3.0xRare over a broad portfolio; common on a single big winner.

A MOIC of 1.42x is the same result as a lifetime return of +42%. The multiple is just a friendlier way to say it.

See Exactly How Many Times Your Money Came Back

Turbobulls computes MOIC from your buys, sells, dividends, and current holdings - automatically, in real time.
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MOIC vs MWR vs ROI

This is where MOIC earns its place. Three return metrics, three different questions:

MOIC = how big
Total returned divided by total invested. Ignores time completely. A 2x over 1 year and a 2x over 20 years look identical.
MWR = how fast, timing-aware
The annual interest rate that matches your cashflows. A 2x over 1 year is a spectacular MWR; a 2x over 20 years is a modest one.

MOIC answers "how many times over?" MWR answers "at what yearly rate, given when I added money?" Read them together: a big MOIC with a low MWR usually means a great result that simply took a long time.

How Turbobulls Calculates Your MOIC

In plain words: Turbobulls adds up everything that has come back to you (sales, dividends, and the current value of your holdings) and divides it by everything you invested (your purchases). No dates involved.

For the math curious
MOIC uses the same cashflow stream as Money-Weighted Return, just without the time-weighting:

MOIC = ( total returned + current value ) / total invested

1

Total invested. Sum every purchase - the capital that left your account to buy positions.

2

Total returned. Sum every sale and every dividend, then add the current market value of what you still hold.

3

Divide. Returned over invested. The result is your multiple.

When a date range is applied, MOIC is measured from that window's starting value - the value of your holdings at the start of the range counts as the capital in play, so the multiple reflects the window, not your entire history.
If you have never deployed capital into positions, MOIC shows N/A - there is nothing to divide by. It appears as soon as you have at least one purchase.

The Full Picture: Pair MOIC With These

Quick Links

MWR vs TWR - the same outcome expressed as a rate, with and without your timing

ROI (open) - return on the capital you currently hold

Lifetime ROI - return on all capital you have ever deployed

Turn Your Transactions Into Clear Return Numbers

Turbobulls computes MOIC, MWR, ROI, and a dozen more metrics from your transaction history automatically. Real-time updates, no spreadsheets.

  • Automatic MOIC from your buys, sells, dividends, and current holdings
  • Money-Weighted and Time-Weighted returns alongside it
  • Per-segment breakdown by broker, asset type, and currency
  • Multi-currency portfolios handled natively
  • Zero manual calculations - log a transaction, see updated metrics
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