Which of the following statements is correct?

The correct statement is:

**To calculate potential profits, firms must combine their cost analyses with information on potential revenues from sales.**

This statement accurately reflects the need for firms to analyze both costs and potential revenues to determine their profitability.

The other statements are incorrect for the following reasons:

- **Large losses might attract new competitors to the market.** This is typically incorrect; large losses generally deter new competitors, as they may signal an unprofitable market.

- **The shape of a firm’s long-run average cost curve does not depend on how costs vary with the scale of operations.** This is incorrect; the shape of the long-run average cost curve does depend on economies of scale and how costs change as production levels vary.

- **To calculate potential profits, firms only utilize existing sales data and hope for the best.** This is misleading; while existing sales data is important, firms also need to analyze costs and potential future revenues, rather than just relying on past data.