A measure of financial performance that expresses the net amount of cash that is generated for the firm, consisting of expenses, taxes and changes in net working capital and investments.

Calculated as:

Watch: Free Cash Flow

|||This is a measurement of a company's profitability after all expenses and reinvestments. It's one of the many benchmarks used to compare and analyze financial health.

A positive value would indicate that the firm has cash left after expenses. A negative value, on the other hand, would indicate that the firm has not generated enough revenue to cover its costs and investment activities. In that instance, an investor should dig deeper to assess why this is happening - it could be a sign that the company may have some deeper problems.