Which of the following influences a company's gross profit?

Gross profit is defined as the difference between a company's revenue from sales and its cost of goods sold (COGS). This metric indicates how efficiently a company uses its resources to produce and sell its products. Therefore, the cost of goods sold plays a direct role in determining gross profit.

When COGS increases, gross profit decreases if revenue remains constant, and vice versa. Thus, understanding the relationship between sales revenue and COGS is critical for analyzing a company's profitability at the fundamental level. Other financial metrics like operating income are influenced by gross profit but do not affect it directly, as they include other expenses such as operating costs beyond COGS.