Free Cash Flow Growth
The percentage change in free cash flow (cash from operations minus capital spending) from one period to the same period a year earlier.
What it is
Free cash flow (FCF) is the cash a company generates from its operations after paying for the capital expenditures needed to maintain and grow the business. FCF growth measures how fast that leftover cash is rising or falling over time. Because it is based on actual cash rather than accounting profit, FCF growth shows whether the company is producing more spendable cash each year.
Why it matters
Free cash flow is the cash available to repay debt, pay dividends, buy back shares, or reinvest, so growing FCF gives a company real financial flexibility. FCF growth is often a higher-quality signal than earnings growth because it is harder to manipulate with accounting choices. Watch out for lumpy capital spending: a company can post a big jump in FCF growth simply by cutting investment one year, which can hurt the business later, so check whether FCF is rising because operations improved or because spending was deferred.
How it's calculated
First compute free cash flow as cash from operations minus capital expenditures for each period, then take current FCF minus prior FCF, divide by prior FCF, and multiply by 100.
How Quintarthai uses it
The 10-year Cash-Flow statement in the Financials tab of each company's deep-analysis page shows operating cash flow and capital expenditures so you can see the free-cash-flow trend, and Quinn's deep analysis quantifies FCF and debt/liquidity risk with click-to-source receipts.