Driving outperformance: the power of economic profit

Fortuna partners Greg Milano and Marwaan Karame highlight how economic profit (EP) drives superior decision-making, cultural alignment, and, ultimately, value creation. Unlike traditional metrics like ROIC or EBITDA margin, EP reflects the true value a company creates—profit earned above the cost of capital. Their research shows that companies embedding EP into planning, decision-making, and incentives outperform the market by 7% annually. Real-world examples, such as Kimball Electronics and Varian Medical Systems, illustrate how adopting EP can trigger profitable growth, foster an ownership mindset, and lead to better capital allocation and portfolio optimization decisions. EP encourages better behaviors like smart spending and risk-taking, focused prioritization, and long-term thinking.