Operating profit attempts to measure the profits of a company’s operating before they are impacted by non operational costs such as interest and tax expense.

It is considered by some a better measure of the true operating performance of a company, though it must be remembered that interest and taxes are very real cash expenses and cannot be discounted entirely.

This is used by Charles Kirkpatrick as a screening measure to reduce the impact of special charges on net income.

This is measured on a TTM basis.