There are many types of ratios that financial analysts use to estimate the health of a company. One important type focuses on measuring how well a company is actually performing. These are known as "profitability" or "performance" ratios. We can get a sense of whether or not a company is being efficient in its use of assets. It looks at questions such as: Does the company generate a reasonable amount of sales for the assets held? Are its profits reasonable for the amount of sales it generates or assets held?