Justification for Profit Per Se

I see a lot of talk on here and on other social media platforms about abandonment of the idea of ‘profit’. As if profit in and of itself is harmful or immoral. What’s the justification for profit? Isn’t breaking even (if that can be calculated) sufficient? I’m of the opinion that profit (optimization, not maximization) is the motivation behind rational free market activity. How can it be otherwise? Have any reputable authors written about this: Rand, Sowell, Mises, Rothbard, etc.? I think we need a refutation of this idea that profit is by its’ very nature, evil.