The current profit does play a role, of course, but as strange as it may sound it's not the main factor. The total revenue indicates that people are happy to pay for your products or services. So, like I said, buyers will look into 2-4 year history and give you an average of 3 to 6 years of the revenue. An MBA may give you a complex equation tailored for a certain industry, but if you just want a rough estimate then look at how the company is doing and then calculate the fork using this simple math. But the most important thing here is that, as they say, "The companies are bought, not sold". Let me know if you want me to explain this :-)