<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (April 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Return on investment (ROI) is the ratio between the net profit and cost of investment resulting from an investment of some resources . A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favorably to its cost . As a performance measure, ROI is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiencies of several different investments . In purely economic terms, it is one way of relating profits to capital invested. Return on investment is a performance measure used by businesses to identify the efficiency of an investment or number of different investments . </P> <P> In business, the purpose of the return on investment (ROI) metric is to measure, per period, rates of return on money invested in an economic entity in order to decide whether or not to undertake an investment . It is also used as an indicator to compare different investments within a portfolio . The investment with the largest ROI is usually prioritized, even though the spread of ROI over the time - period of an investment should also be taken into account . Recently, the concept has also been applied to scientific funding agencies (e.g., National Science Foundation) investments in research of open source hardware and subsequent returns for direct digital replication . </P> <P> ROI and related metrics provide a snapshot of profitability, adjusted for the size of the investment assets tied up in the enterprise . ROI is often compared to expected (or required) rates of return on money invested . ROI is not net present value - adjusted and most schoolbooks describe it with a "Year 0" investment and two to three years income . </P>

Return on investment (roi) = (benefits - costs) divided by benefits