Dividends should reflect a conservative estimate of how
much free cash flow that a company is willing to part with.
That would mean the company has an adequate margin of safety for sustaining its dividend because it is creating 2 1/2 times as
much free cash flow needed to pay its dividend.
After all, the bank doesn't know if you can repay your balance without knowing how
much free cash flow you have on a regular basis.
We could figure out the value of the intangibles if Amazon raised its prices a touch, and saw how
much free cash flow increased, and market share decreased.
The firm generates so
much free cash flow that it can't put to work that nearly all of it goes right back out the door to owners, either in the form of share repurchases or cash dividends.
Comparing how
much free cash flow a company can generate from each dollar of sales may give investors a clue to which company is more efficient.
Not exact matches
-- We estimate that steady earnings and restrained capital expenditures should contribute to annual run - rate
free cash flow of at least C$ 400 million,
much of which will be allocated to debt reduction in the next 12 - 18 months.
Dividend yields from companies with low or negative
free cash flow can not be trusted as
much because they may not be able to sustain their dividend for
much longer.
On the flip side, dividends from companies with low or negative
free cash flow can not be trusted as
much because the company may not be able to sustain paying dividends.
In the next few years,
free cash flow will be $ 3 to $ 6 a share, depending on how
much more business they get.
It has a
much higher dividend yield of 4.2 %, and, like UGI, it has delivered positive
free cash flow for three consecutive years.
Even if Zynga's members are only 20 % of the
cash cows that PokerStars members are, Zynga could add as
much as $ 150 million per year in extra
free cash flow.
Free cash flow is different than just your income because it looks at things like how
much you pay in rent or for your mortgage, how
much you pay in taxes, and the average cost of living where you live.
But the bigger reason is that Berkshire is drowning in so
much cash and
free cash flow that Buffett doesn't have to choose: he can buy back billions — even tens of billions — of his stock and also have plenty of dry powder to do what he prefers: make large investments.
I continue to see more and more opportunities to divert my
free cash flow elsewhere, however, so we'll see how
much I invest over the next month or so.
The
free cash flow tells you how
much money is left after the company has spent the money that is needed to maintain and expand its current business.
Sell - side analysts are forecasting as
much as $ 45 - $ 50 million in
free cash flow for fiscal 2009 from the Winstar facility ramp - up, increased machine counts and notes receivable repayments.
The company's
free cash flow stood at $ 24 million, which is
much lower than its competitors.
As well, look at
free cash flow, how
much debt a company is carrying — a debt - to - EBITDA ratio of three times is getting high, says Gibbs — and how they're spending their money.
However, it trades north of 21x core earnings, has only traded for about a year after being spun - off (not
much track record), and the dividend exceeded
free cash flow for the last 9 months.
I'm snowballing most of the
free cash flow into paying down what's left, but I have
freed up so
much cash that we now are taking dream vacations: this summer we cruised the Mediterranean; next summer we visit Iceland.
The prices of stocks as income vehicles has been bid up, and buybacks absorb
much of the
free cash flow from mature corporations.
Capital Allocation: OK, I cheated a bit, I should have revealed Record is a
cash - rich / zero debt company (with no pension / contingent liabilities)-- with
free cash flow that consistently matches / exceeds earnings — so arguably, it's
much cheaper than it shows up on the screens.
These guys are smarter than I am, and I'm smart enough to know that Amazon is a great business, but I can't get comfortable with paying 100 times
free cash flow for the opportunity to own what might turn out to be
much more
cash flow later.
Inverting some of these metrics gives us an idea how
much earnings yield /
free cash flow yield we get for the business versus historical, other prospecting stocks, cost of capital.
Plus I'm frustrated to see
much of the company's operating
cash generation being absorbed by working capital — LTM operating
free cash flow margin's a mere 0.2 %, although the 2012 - 13 average of 1.6 % is probably more representative.
How
much does the generation of
free cash flow change relative to the price paid or received for equity?
If you keep an inventory of prints, or even if you have a lot of small originals or sketches / studies lying around taking up space, selling them at a relatively low price point (again, you don't actually have to sell them at a loss) can
free up valuable inventory space, and spark
much - needed
cash flow.
This list of
free online tools will help you calculate your
cash flow and determine how
much rent to charge, without patrolling the neighborhood.
In my early days of investing, I faced many of the common problems that many new real estate investors face, such as: a lack of credibility; no marketing exposure; few leads; no prescreening system; no follow - up system; no way to quickly make offers; lack of organization; no office or support staff; no way to sell houses fast; no credit; no
cash flow; too
much paperwork; and no
free time.