The analyst may obtain profitability measures for the venture being studied in several ways.
Common non-time value approaches to measure profitability are the pay back period and financial statement (accounting) rates of return.
These rates of return are based on some net income figure divided by some investment base.
Frequently used profitability measure of this type are: net income to assets,
first-year earnings to initial investment,
average net income to initial investment,
and average net income to average investment.