The cash flow statement: why it is more honest than profit
beginner
Automated material · TradeAlmanac editorial deskDraft prepared by a language model from our stored data; not reviewed by an editor.
Содержание · 3
Profit can be drawn without a single rouble moving: revalue an asset, recognise revenue on shipment, defer tax. Cash flow cannot be drawn — it equals what actually happened in the account.
Three sections
Operating — money from the core business.
497 800 000 000
Investing — buying and selling assets. Capital expenditure lives here.
20 400 000 000
Financing — raising and repaying debt, dividends, buybacks.
Free cash flow
Operating cash flow minus capital expenditure. It is the only money a company can allocate without borrowing or eating into the business.
270 200 000 000
What a divergence says
If profit grows while operating cash flow does not, ask why. The usual answers: receivables grew (sold but not paid) or inventories swelled. Both are acceptable for one year and worrying in the second.
Related instruments
Draft prepared by a language model from our stored data; not reviewed by an editor.
Model: claude-opus-5
How we use language modelsSimilar articles
- A first portfolio: what it is assembled fromNot a list of securities but an order of decisions: proportions first, then instruments, and only then specific tickers.
- How to tell investing from fraudFive signs, any one of which is enough to stop. None requires financial knowledge.
- Saving and investing: different jobs, different instrumentsPreserving and growing are not degrees of the same thing but opposite requirements of an instrument.
- Why past returns promise nothingA line from the disclaimer that almost everyone reads and almost nobody applies.