Can gross profit be negative and net profit positive?
Jackson Reed
Updated on January 01, 2026
One of the most important calculations that an income statement shows is the gross profit. Gross profit is calculated by subtracting the business’s total direct cost — also called cost of goods sold — from sales revenue. This number can be positive, negative, or neutral (meaning, zero).
Can a business can have a positive gross profit and still have a net loss?
A company can have a larger amount of gross profit, but if the cost to run the business is even higher, there is no net profit. To be a profitable business, a company must have total expenses lower than the gross profit generated by the sales of products and services.
What is the positive gross profit?
The gross profit margin shows how efficient processes are. A positive gross profit margin allows a company to pay for its operating expenses. Unless there were specific changes, gross profit margin should be stable.
What does it mean when gross profit is negative?
Gross profit margin can turn negative when the costs of production exceed total sales. A negative margin can be an indication of a company’s inability to control costs. Gross profit is the revenue earned by a company after deducting the direct costs of producing its products.
Is net profit positive or negative?
Net profit margin is the percentage by which a company’s total revenue exceeds, or is less than, its overall expenses. A positive net profit margin demonstrates that the company is running in profit, whereas a negative ratio indicates that the company is making less money than it is spending.
Is net profit Loss bad?
Having a negative net profit margin can have a positive impact on your tax liability. Because your business pays taxes on net profit, failing to earn a profit entails having no income tax liability. Depending on your business structure, you may even be able to carry forward losses to offset profits in future tax years.
How do you interpret a negative profit margin?
A negative net profit margin results from the “net” part of the equation — the balance between revenue and expenses is off. It means that the money you make from selling your products or services is not enough to cover the cost of making or selling those products or services.
What is negative profit called?
Calculating a Negative Profit Margin A profit margin as a percentage equals the net income or loss for the period, divided by total revenue, times 100. Because a net loss is a negative number in the formula’s numerator, you get a negative percentage result.
What if my net profit is negative?
Can a company lose money?
If you sell your products for too much or too little, your business will lose money. If you set your prices too high, fewer customers will buy your products. But, the prices might be so low that you barely turn a profit. People might be willing to pay more than your ultra-low price.
How do you calculate the net profit or loss?
The formula for calculating net loss is revenue minus expenses equals net loss or net profit.
Can a business can have a positive gross profit and still have a net loss explain and be specific?
Gross profit margin is a ratio that shows a company’s sales and production performance. It is the percentage of revenues remaining after deducting the cost of goods sold, or COGS. A positive gross profit margin allows a company to pay for its operating expenses.
What if net profit is negative?
Is profit negative or positive?
Accounting profit = total revenue – explicit costs. Economic profit can be positive, negative, or zero. If economic profit is positive, there is incentive for firms to enter the market. If profit is negative, there is incentive for firms to exit the market.
Is negative profit margin good?
A negative margin can be an indication of a company’s inability to control costs. On the other hand, negative margins could be the natural consequence of industry-wide or macroeconomic difficulties beyond the control of a company’s management.
Is it possible for gross profit to be negative?
It’s entirely possible for your gross profit to show a significantly positive figure but for your operating or net profit to be low or even negative. However, this doesn’t mean that the calculation is useless. Gross profit is useful for working out the value your business generates from its products or services.
How are gross profit and net profit calculated?
Thankfully, it’s not too difficult to calculate both your gross profit margin and net profit margin. The gross profit margin can be calculated by dividing gross profit by revenue. For example, if a company has revenue of £200,000 with cost of sales of £120,000, the gross profit margin is 40%.
What makes a company have a high gross profit?
Strong gross profits and high margins put you in a better position to cover fixed costs and other irregular expenses that must be taken out in the net profit calculation. Gross margin is the percentage of your revenue converted to gross profits. A high gross margin is a good starting position for achieving positive net income.
What makes up the net profit of a business?
Here is the formula for net profit: Operating expenses, interest, and taxes make up your business’s total expenses. Examples of operating expenses include costs like rent, depreciation, and employee salaries. Using the above example for gross profits, let’s say your business has a gross profit of $8,000 during an accounting period.