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Corporations and their shareholders are determined to make profits from their business operations and make a good return on their investment (ROI). In order to make good profits, a firm needs to be run efficiently and have sufficient cash flow to meet current liabilities and short term debt (liquidity). You as a small scale investor need to investigate the profitability of a company in order to determine if it is both liquid and it is being run efficiently. The way to do this is by calculating the various profit margin ratios available. We look at a few below:
The higher the Operating Profit Margin, the better. This is because a higher Operating Profit Margin shows the company can keep its costs under control (successful cost accounting). A higher Operating Profit Margin can also mean sales are increasing faster than costs, and the firm is in a relatively liquid position. The difference between Gross Profit Margin and Operating Profit Margin is that the gross profit margin accounts for only Cost of Goods sold, but the Operating Profit Margin accounts for both Cost of Goods sold and Administration/Selling expenses.