We use EBIT--earnings before interest and taxes--and we compare that to enterprise value, which is the market value of a company's stock plus the long-term debt that a company has.

FORBES

Internet and catalog retailers, in contrast, can and do get by with below-average EBIT and EBITDA margins precisely because they employ less capital than the average company.

FORBES: Are You Being Misled By Profit Margins?

The Index measures solar players according to their financial performance and operational efficiency, with an emphasis on revenue growth, working capital, EBIT percentage and debt-to-equity, among other measures.

FORBES: Solar Leaders Pull Away From The Pack

Scandalizing the Graham-Dodd set, the 1980s gave us EBIT and EBITDA as ways to look past profit and discover potential in such flyers as McCaw, Turner, MCI and TCI.

FORBES: Slaughter Of Innocents

The analysts expect lower material costs and an appreciating Euro could help raise 2012 and 2013 EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margins to a five-year high of 6.7%, rising to 9.7% by 2015 with increased sales growth.

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