The first approach is achieving a high asset turnover.

It measures the combined effects of profit margins and asset turnover.

Standard measure for total asset turnover (varies greatly from industry to industry).

It also factors in operating margins, asset turnover, and cash flow-asset ratios.

But one of the challenges Mr. Hardymon will face, analysts said, is achieving better asset turnover.

Three-year performance in four other financial ratios; return on equity, return on assets, asset turnover and inventory turns are also considered.

Operating efficiency (measured by asset turnover)

Currently it is the seventh largest Spanish company in terms of asset turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country.

Similarly, if the asset turnover increases, the firm generates more sales for every unit of assets owned, again resulting in a higher overall ROE.

This same executive said that he was against incrementalism in the sense that major reductions in assets (or increases in asset turnover) had to be achieved.

The company's asset turnover (ATO) is (Sales Assets).

Asset turnover is a financial ratio that measures the efficiency of a company's use of its assets in generating sales revenue or sales income to the company.

Essentially, ROE will equal the net margin multiplied by asset turnover multiplied by financial leverage.

The company's return on assets (ROA) is (Return on sales x Asset turnover).

Companies with low profit margins tend to have high asset turnover, while those with high profit margins have low asset turnover.

The ROE of such firms may be particularly dependent on performance of this metric, and hence asset turnover may be studied extremely carefully for signs of under-, or, over-performance.

He then ran those firms through an array of tests involving their balance sheets and income statements, using such metrics as the return on assets rate, current ratio, change in gross margin, and change in asset turnover.

Xinyuan's team has capitalized on China's rapid economic growth by utilizing a standardized and scalable business model that emphasizes high asset turnover, efficient working capital management and strict cost control and their national establishment covers six high-growth Tier II cities: Chengdu, Hefei, Jinan, Kunshan, Suzhou, and Zhengzhou.

One critique here, is that model outputs, i.e. line items, often incorporate "unrealistic implicit assumptions" and "internal inconsistencies" (for example, a forecast for growth in revenue but without corresponding increases in working capital, fixed assets and the associated financing, may imbed unrealistic assumptions about asset turnover, leverage and / or equity financing).