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Free Cash Flow: Why It Matters More Than Net Income

Beginner Investing • 5 min

Net income can be shaped by accounting choices in ways that real cash can't. Free Cash Flow (FCF) strips that out: it's the cash left over after a company pays for whatever it needs to keep running and growing (capital expenditures). A common formula is cash flow from operations minus capital expenditures.A company can be profitable on paper and still be burning real cash, or vice versa — FCF is what tells you which…

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