Working paper: free cash flow
Net cash provided by operating activities
Purchases of property and equipment (CapEx)
$118,254-$10,500=$107,754
Free cash flow$107,754
Inputs in USD thousands by convention. Defaults seeded from a recent Apple 10-K outline for illustration; replace with your filer's numbers.
How to use the calculator
Switch method using the tabs above the working paper. Each tab re-labels the rows to match the exact line items on a US-GAAP cash flow statement (or income statement, for FCFF and Owner Earnings). The formula readout below the rows shows the live computation; the operator and equals glyphs are coloured in brass-mustard so they are easy to follow when the row labels are long.
The five methods
Standard FCFOCF - CapEx
Best for: Quick reads from a 10-Q, mature businesses, broad comparability. Not for: Banks, REITs, capital-structure-sensitive valuations.[FASB ASC 230]
Unlevered FCF (FCFF)EBIT(1-t) + D&A - dNWC - CapEx
Best for: Enterprise-value DCF, cross-capital-structure comparisons. Not for: Equity-only models, dividend-discount frameworks.[Damodaran NYU]
Levered FCF (FCFE)FCFF - Int(1-t) - dDebt
Best for: Equity DCF, dividend-capacity analysis. Not for: Comparing firms with materially different leverage.[Damodaran NYU]
FCF to the FirmFCFF - lease principal
Best for: Lease-heavy retailers, airlines, post-ASC-842 comparability. Not for: Asset-light SaaS, services firms.[FASB ASC 842]
Owner EarningsNI + D&A - maintCapEx
Best for: Buffett-school long-horizon analysis, owner-operator framing. Not for: Pre-revenue firms with no stable earnings base.[Buffett 1986 letter]
Worked examples from filings
Each walks a real 10-K or 10-Q through one of the five methods.
- AAPL Apple FY25 -EDGAR 10-K index
- MSFT Microsoft FY25 -EDGAR 10-K index
- NVDA NVIDIA FY25 -EDGAR 10-K index
- SNOW Snowflake FY25 -EDGAR 10-K index
- UBER Uber FY25 -EDGAR 10-K index
- TSLA Tesla FY25 -EDGAR 10-K index