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Monday, November 28, 2011

Calculating Gross Profit Margin

Gross profit margin
Although we are only a few lines of the income (loss) statement, we can calculate our first financial ratio. Gross profit margin is the company's production and distribution, manufacturing process measurement. Gross profit tells an investor income / sales left after subtracting cost of goods sold percentage. The company, which boasts a higher gross profit margins than its competitors and the industry more efficient. Investors tend to pay more companies that are higher efficiency ratings than their competitors, these companies should be able to make a decent profit, as long as the overheads are controlled (mean added rent, utilities, etc.)

To calculate the gross profit margin, use the following formula: Gross profit on total revenues

A sample Calculation of Gross Profit Margin

Illustration purposes, we can calculate the gross profit margin of Greenwich Golf Supply (fictitious company) using its own profit (loss) statement. GPS-1 in the bottom of the page you will find this statement.

Suppose the average golf supply company gross profit by 30%. (You can find this sort of information industry, the various financial publications, web sites, such as financial moneycentral.com, or rating agencies such as Standard and Poors).

We can take the numbers from Greenwich Golf Supply profit (loss) statement and plug them into our formula:

$ 162,084 gross profit of $ 405,209 total revenue = 0.40

The answer, 0.40 (40%), tells us that Greenwich is a much more efficient than most competitors in its production and distribution.

Gross profit margin during the period

Gross profit has a tendency to remain stable over time. Significant variations can be a potential sign of fraud or accounting irregularities. If the analysis of business income (loss) statement and the gross margin has historically averaged approximately 3% -4%, and suddenly it shoots more than 25% should be seriously concerned. For more information about the warning signs of accounting fraud, I recommend Howard Schilit Financial shenanigans: 2nd Edition: How to accounting gimmicks and fraud in the financial statements.

For more advanced readers, who are their own business or want to understand how to analyze the gross profit margin for the company where they want to buy the shares, wrote the essay "Look deeper Gross profit and gross profit margin, to explain how this is possible with a small company's gross profit margin earned more money than with a high gross profit margin for the company. It is definitely worth a read.

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