Dupont analysis uses basic maths to explore what drives return on capital. This helps us to better understand historic returns and predict future returns. If we multiply both the numerator and the denominator in our return on invested capital calculation by sales, we get NOPAT divided by sales and sales divided by invested capital. Now notice that NOPAT divided by sales is NOPAT margin. This is a profitability metric that tells us the amount of profit generated for each Dollar of sales. Meanwhile, sales divided by invested capital is invested capital turnover. This is an efficiency metric that tells us the sales generated for each Dollar of invested capital. We therefore know that if a company wants to increase its return on invested capital, it needs to increase its profit margins, increase its capital turnover, or ideally both. Note that a common way of increasing return on invested capital is through scaling up the business. This typically has the greatest impact on profit margins as a company's. Fixed costs are relatively unchanged as revenues increase, so as companies grow provided they maintain their competitive positioning, we would expect return on capital to increase as a result of higher margins.