The economic concept of net present value (NPV = future value [$] of net genetic gain discounted to present value [$] by adjusting for interest and inflation) was used by Washington State Univ. scientists as a method of selecting A.I. beef sires for maximum profit over a 3-generation time horizon. Spring 2003 EPDs for weaning wt., yearling wt., and milk of 552 sires in seven breeds available from four A.I. companies were evaluated, and were ranked by NPV from both the crossbred and purebred producer perspective. The analysis examined the impact on ranking of various production goals and management situations faced by producers. The 20 most profitable sires in each ranking provided significant genetic improvement at substantially less than the cost of average genetic improvement. The average NPV of the 20 most profitable sires across all seven breeds was markedly higher than the average NPV of all sires in the analysis ($22.51 vs. $3.23). NPV values ranged from a high of $31.14 to a low of $-112.24. Semen prices on all 552 bulls ranged from a high of $100 to a low of $8.00 per unit. Average semen price of the top 20 sires was $15.40 compared to $17.95 for all 552 sires, demonstrating that semen from top sires can be purchased at moderate cost. The analysis revealed that by selecting among the top 20 sires to maximize NPV over three generations, a crossbred producer with 500 cows could realize an increase of more than $9500 per year in discounted annual net income. It should be noted that this study involved only three traits and did not include some other economically important traits such as birth weight. Nevertheless, it provides an example of an objective economic approach to the complex decision-making process when selecting from among A.I. sires that range widely in semen price and EPDs for certain traits (Baker et al. 2004. Prof. Anim. Sci. 20: 336).