Cash Flows

This week we are studying the Statement of Cash Flows. Operating cash flow represents the cash that flows in and out of the company on a day-to-day basis. For example, cash inflows come from collected revenues and cash outflows occur when the firm pays its normal day-to-day expenses.  We, of course, would prefer to see a positive total on the Net Cash provided by Operating Activities, because it implies that cash inflows are greater than cash outflows. In your textbook, the author discusses 4 financial ratios associated with operating cash flows; please study these ratios. Remember that the denominator on the ratio Operating cash flow/Current maturities of long-term debt is being revised to current liabilities; therefore, we will report the ratio as Operating cash flow/Current liabilities (see discussion on page 3 of Module 5 lesson).

This week I want you to find the Statement of Cash Flow for a firm of your choosing (Verizon Communications) and report the cash flow ratios.  Please report and discuss 3 years of ratios for the three ratios related to debt and dividends but only the current year’s cash flows per share.  Show numerators and denominators for all ratios and then discuss their economic meaning. It is possible that your firm does not pay dividends (you will see dividends in the financing section of the Cash Flow Statement).

The cash flow per share ratio is particularly challenging since most of the numbers in the statements are in thousands or millions (look at the top of the statement for a note) while the # of shares outstanding only for the current year (in Yahoo.Finance, under your firm’s page, look in “Key Statistics” and you will find the # of shares in the right column down about halfway on the page).  You only have to report ONE YEAR on the cash flow per share.