"Good" depends on the sector and the maturity of the business. Mature consumer staples can operate with a WACC near 6%. Early stage technology firms commonly run 11% or higher because their equity is more volatile and they carry less debt. The right benchmark is always the industry median, not an absolute threshold.

The WACC calculator with live financial inputs.

Type any stock ticker world-wide and we auto populate beta, capital structure, and the effective tax rate from current filings. Built by analysts who use it every day.

By Guillermo Valles

Updated May 24, 2026

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AAPL

Risk Free Rate

Equity Risk Premium

Beta (Levered)

Pre Tax Cost of Debt

Effective Tax Rate

Market Value of Equity

Market Value of Debt

Weighted Average Cost of Capital

10.8%

Implied discount rate - Annualized

Cost of Equity (K_e)10.9%

After Tax Cost of Debt3.8%

Weight of Equity97.3%

Weight of Debt2.7%

WACC = W_e·K_e + W_d·K_d·(1−t)10.75%

Sensitivity Analysis

The WACC calculator that actually pulls live data.

Every WACC is wrong to two decimals. The point of a sensitivity table is to show the range of possibilities for a given company. The current cell highlighted in orange.

β \ ERP →	3.50%	4.50%	5.50%	6.50%	7.50%
β = 0.60	6.38%	6.96%	7.54%	8.13%	8.71%
β = 0.90	7.40%	8.27%	9.15%	10.02%	10.90%
β = 1.20	8.42%	9.59%	10.75%	11.92%	13.09%
β = 1.50	9.44%	10.90%	12.36%	13.82%	15.28%
β = 1.80	10.46%	12.21%	13.96%	15.71%	17.46%

Foundations

What is WACC, really?

WACC is the combined cost a company pays to finance its assets, measured by how much of the capital structure comes from each source. In a DCF it serves as the discount rate that translates future free cash flows back into the present value. A higher WACC means the market demands more return for the risk that the business carries, which decreases the price investors will pay for those cash flows today.

The intuition is simple. Equity holders sit at the back of the line in bankruptcy and want compensation for that risk through expected returns. Debt holders sit at the front of the line but receive a fixed return, and the government effectively pays part of that coupon by making interest tax deductible. WACC mixes these two streams in proportion to their share of the firm's total enterprise value.

Why the weights use market values

The textbook insists on market value of equity and market value of debt for a reason. Book values reflect historical accounting choices that have nothing to do with what investors would pay to buy the company today. If you weight by book equity, you will systematically understate the cost of capital for any firm trading above book value, which is most of them. Use market cap for equity. For debt, book value is a reasonable proxy unless the firm has publicly traded bonds with observable yields, in which case use those.

Where the cost of equity actually comes from

The capital asset pricing model is the most common framework, even though academics have been pointing out its flaws since the 1980s. It survives because it produces a defensible number from three observable inputs: the risk free rate, the equity risk premium, and the stock's beta. The output is the return investors should rationally demand from this equity given its sensitivity to broad market moves.

The Formula

One equation with five inputs

The whole equation is a weighted sum. Everything else is just figuring out the inputs.

WACC =(E/V) · K_e+(D/V) · K_d·(1 - t)

E = Market value of equity

D = Market value of debt

t = Effective tax rate

Worked Example

AAPL's WACC, line by line

Using current market data as of May 2026. Numbers rounded for readability. The calculator above will produce the unrounded version.

AAPL Inc.

AAPLLive Calculator ViewWACC: 10.75%

STEP 01

Cost of equity (CAPM)

K_e = 4.35% + 1.20 × 5.50% K_e = 4.35% + 6.60%

→ 10.95%

STEP 02

After tax cost of debt

K_d(1 - t) = 4.50% × 0.84

→ 3.78%

STEP 03

Capital structure weights

E = $3,400B · D = $96B · V = $3,496B W_e = 3,400 / 3,496 = 97.25% W_d = 96 / 3,496 = 2.75%

→ 97.25% / 2.75%

STEP 04

Blend to WACC

WACC = 0.9725 × 10.95% + 0.0275 × 3.78% WACC = 10.65% + 0.10%

→ 10.75%

Sector Benchmarks

Industry WACC ranges 2026

If your computed WACC sits outside the typical range for the sector, treat that as a signal to recheck inputs rather than a discovery.

Software & SaaS

9.8% – 11.4%

Semiconductors

10.2% – 12.1%

Internet & Media

9.4% – 10.8%

Pharmaceuticals

8.2% – 9.6%

Industrials

7.9% – 9.2%

Auto & Transport

8.4% – 10.1%

Retail (General)

7.2% – 8.7%

Banks (Diversified)

7.8% – 9.1%

Consumer Staples

5.8% – 7.0%

Utilities & REITs

5.2% – 6.5%

Source: Damodaran Online (NYU Stern), aggregated from January 2026 update. Bands estimated around Damodaran sector averages.

Pitfalls

Five mistakes that wreck your number

If your WACC feels off, it's almost always one of these.

Mistake 01

Using book value of equity

Book equity has no economic meaning for valuation. Use market cap. A profitable firm trading at 5x book will see its WACC understated by 200 to 400 basis points if you weight it by book.

Mistake 02

Forgetting the tax shield on debt

The cost of debt enters WACC after tax, because interest is tax deductible. Plugging in the pre tax yield directly will overstate WACC by tax rate times debt weight.

Mistake 03

Mixing nominal and real rates

If you build cash flows in nominal terms (most analysts do), every input in WACC must also be nominal. Real risk free rates with nominal cash flows is a silent killer of valuations.

Mistake 04

Using levered beta when you need unlevered

If you are computing WACC for a target with a different capital structure than the comparable companies, unlever and relever the beta. Otherwise you are mixing two different financial risk profiles.

Mistake 05

Single point estimates

A single WACC number to two decimals is theater. Always run a sensitivity table on beta and ERP at minimum. A range from 8.5% to 10.5% is far more honest than 9.46%.

Mistake 06

Stale risk free rate

The 10 year Treasury moves daily. A WACC built six months ago can be off by 100 basis points just from the rate environment. Refresh inputs whenever the rate cycle shifts.

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Guillermo Valles

Founder•Wisesheets•Former Financial Analyst

Guillermo Valles is the founder and CEO of Wisesheets, a former financial analyst at SmartCentres REIT, and a graduate of the Schulich School of Business. After years of building financial models and manually gathering company data in spreadsheets, he founded Wisesheets in 2020 to make financial analysis faster, more transparent, and easier to verify. This calculator uses the same financial data infrastructure that powers Wisesheets’ Excel and Google Sheets tools, drawing from SEC filings and reconciled market data. Its calculations and methodology are reviewed quarterly by the Wisesheets team.

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