Industry analysis
Quick Commerce Unit Economics: Orders, Margins and Delivery Costs
Ten-minute delivery is impressive. Whether it is profitable depends on a few numbers per order and per store. Here is how to read them.
5 min readRead more
Cash flow
14 pages carry this tag.
Analysis
Financial analysis
How to Read a Company Before Investing: A Financial-Statement Framework
Most people start with the share price and the P/E. A better order starts with the business, works through the statements, and looks at the price last.
5 min readRead more
Financial analysis
Revenue Growth vs. Free Cash Flow Growth: Which Matters More?
Revenue growth is the number that makes headlines. Free cash flow is the number that pays investors. The link between them is the return a company earns on what it reinvests.
5 min readRead more
Financial analysis
Why a profitable company can still run out of cash
Profit is an accounting opinion; cash is a fact. This is how a company can be profitable on paper and still unable to pay its bills.
7 min readRead more
Financial analysis
Five red flags in financial statements
Accounting problems rarely show up as one dramatic number. They show up as small places where the statements stop agreeing with each other. Here are five to check first.
7 min readRead more
Business case studies
Working Capital Trends in Indian Manufacturing Companies
Working capital decides how much cash a company must tie up to grow. Ten years of data for five large Indian manufacturers show very different models, and some quiet shifts worth noticing.
5 min readRead more
Company analysis
When a Debt-Free Balance Sheet Is a Warning, Not a Badge
"Debt-free" is one of the most reassuring phrases in an investor presentation. Sometimes it signals strength. Sometimes it hides idle cash, disguised borrowing, or a business no lender will touch.
5 min readRead more
Financial analysis
What three years of a cash flow statement reveals that one year hides
Profit is an opinion, cash is a fact, and one year of cash flow is a snapshot. It takes three years for the snapshot to become a story.
6 min readRead more
Concept Guides
Concept Guide
Reading a cash flow statement
Why cash is harder to fake than profit: the three sections of the cash flow statement, free cash flow, and checks on operating cash quality.
8 min readRead more
Concept Guide
Linking the three statements
How the P&L, balance sheet and cash flow statement feed into each other, and how to build a three-statement model that balances.
10 min readRead more
Concept Guide
Working capital
Operating working capital and the cash conversion cycle: how to work out DIO, DSO and DPO, sector benchmarks, negative working capital and manipulation.
8 min readRead more
Formulas & Ratios
Formula
CFO to PAT ratio
The CFO to PAT ratio compares five years of cash flow from operations with five years of reported net profit. It is the simplest anti-fraud check in fundamental analysis.
Read more
Formula
Free cash flow
Free cash flow is operating cash flow minus the cash the business is forced to reinvest to keep running and growing. It is the money that is genuinely surplus.
Read more
Formula
Cash flow per share
Cash flow per share is operating cash flow divided by the number of shares. Set next to EPS, it shows how much of each share's reported profit actually arrived as cash.
Read more
Related topics: Valuation, DCF, Relative valuation, Cost of capital, Financial statements, Earnings quality, Red flags, Ratios