The 4 Sources of Growth

In the long run, sales growth drives earnings growth. 

In general, sales growth stems from one of four areas:

1.  Selling more goods and services
2.  Raising prices
3.  Selling new goods or services
4.  Buying another company

Although profit growths can outpace sales growth for a while if a company is able to do an excellent job cutting costs or fiddling with the financial statements, this kind of situation simply isn't sustainable over the long haul - there's a limit to how much costs can be cut, and there are only so many financial tricks that companies can use to boost the bottom line.