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Acme United (Acme United) Free Cash Flow : $23.9 Mil (TTM As of Dec. 2023)


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What is Acme United Free Cash Flow?

Acme United's total free cash flow for the months ended in Dec. 2023 was $6.0 Mil. Its total free cash flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023 was $23.9 Mil.

Acme United's Free Cash Flow per Share for the months ended in Dec. 2023 was $1.57. Its free cash flow per share for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023 was $6.49.

During the past 3 years, the average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 93.80% per year. Please click Growth Rate Calculation Example (GuruFocus) to see how GuruFocus calculates Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT)'s revenue growth rate. You can apply the same method to get the Free Cash Flow Growth Rate using Free Cash Flow per Share data.

During the past 13 years, Acme United's highest 3-Year average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 197.90% per year. The lowest was -112.50% per year. And the median was 25.70% per year.


Acme United Free Cash Flow Historical Data

The historical data trend for Acme United's Free Cash Flow can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Acme United Free Cash Flow Chart

Acme United Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Free Cash Flow
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 13.02 3.15 -1.23 -1.71 23.92

Acme United Quarterly Data
Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24
Free Cash Flow Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 6.98 1.30 9.62 6.04 -

Acme United Free Cash Flow Calculation

Free Cash Flow is considered one of the most important parameters to measure a company's earnings power by value investors because it is not subject to estimates of Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization (DDA). However, when we look at the Free Cash Flow, we should look from a long term perspective, because any year's Free Cash Flow can be drastically affected by the spending on Property, Plant, & Equipment (PPE) of the business in that year. Over the long term, Free Cash Flow should give pretty good picture on the real earnings power of the company.

Acme United's Free Cash Flow for the fiscal year that ended in Dec. 2023 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (A: Dec. 2023 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=28.899+-4.975
=23.9

Acme United's Free Cash Flow for the quarter that ended in Dec. 2023 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (Q: Dec. 2023 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=7.237+-1.202
=6.0

Free Cash Flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023 adds up the quarterly data reported by the company within the most recent 12 months, which was $23.9 Mil.

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.


Acme United  (AMEX:ACU) Free Cash Flow Explanation

Free Cash Flow is very close to Warren Buffett's definition of Owner's Earnings, except that in Warren Buffett's Owner's Earnings, the spending for Property, Plant, and Equipment is only for maintenance (replacement), while in the Free Cash Flow calculation, the cost of new Property, Plant, and Equipment due to business expansion is also deducted. There, Free Cash Flow is more conservative than Owner's Earnings.

In Don Yacktman's calculation of forward rate of return, he uses Free Cash Flow for the calculation. Yacktman explained the forward rate of return concept in detail in his interview with GuruFocus. Yacktman defines forward rate of return as the normalized free cash flow yield plus real growth plus inflation.

This is what Yacktman said in his March 2012 interview - when the S&P 500 was at 1400:

If the business is stable, this calculation is fairly straightforward. For instance, on the S&P 500 we would normalize earnings. We would then calculate what percentage of those earnings are not reinvested in the underlying businesses and are therefore free. Historically, for the S&P 500, this has been just under 50% of earnings. Currently, we expect the S&P to earn about 70 on a normalized basis, a number which is far below reported earnings due to our adjusting for record high profit margins. $70 X ½ / 1400 gives you a normalized free cash flow yield of approximately 2.5%.

The historical real growth rate of the S&P 500 (companies) is about 1.5%. Assuming an inflation rate of 2.5%, the forward rate of return on an investment in the S&P 500 is about 6.5% today (2.5% free cash flow yield plus 1.5% real growth plus 2.5% inflation).

For the growth part of the Forward Rate of Return calculation, GuruFocus uses the 5-year average growth rate of EBITDA per share as the growth rate, and the growth rate is always capped at 20%. For the Free Cash Flow we use per share data averaged over seven years. The reason we use seven years is because research shows that seven years is the length of the typical business cycle.

Therefore, as of Dec23, Acme United's Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % is

Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % (Dec23)=Normalized Free Cash Flow/Price+5-Year EBITDA Growth Rate
=1.99866667/46.99+0.1015
=14.40 %

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.


Be Aware

Free Cash Flow within a report period can be affected by management's decisions of capital spending. Therefore, it is important to look at long term when it comes to Free Cash Flow.


Acme United Free Cash Flow Related Terms

Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of Acme United's Free Cash Flow provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.


Acme United (Acme United) Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
Address
1 Waterview Drive, Shelton, CT, USA, 06484
Acme United Corp is a supplier of first aid and medical products and cutting technology to the school, home, office, hardware, sporting goods, and industrial markets. Its principal products sold across all segments are first aid kits and medical products, scissors, shears, knives, rulers, pencil sharpeners, and sharpening tools. The Company sells its products to mass market and e-commerce retailers, industrial distributors, wholesale, contract, and retail stationery distributors, office supply superstores, sporting goods stores, and hardware chains. The Company's reportable business segments consist of the United States, Canada, and Europe, out of which a majority of the company's revenue is derived from the United States.
Executives
Brian S Olschan director, officer: Pres, Chief Operations Officer C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Rex Lynn Davidson director 70 BATTERY PLACE #620, NEW YORK NY 10280
Paul G Driscoll officer: Vice President and CFO C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Brian Barker director 55 WALLS DRIVE, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Walter C Johnsen director, officer: See Remarks C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Ward Stevenson E Iii director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Susan H Murphy director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Holden Richmond Y Jr director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
North Star Investment Management Corp. 10 percent owner 20 N. WACKER DRIVE, SUITE # 1416, CHICAGO IL 60606
Gary D Penisten director, officer: Chairman C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
R Scott Asen 10 percent owner 224 E 49TH ST, NEW YORK NY 10017
James A Benkovic officer: Vice President of Sales C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Stephen Jr Spinelli director THE COLONNADE RESIDENCES, 118 HUNTINGTON AVE, APT 1102, BOSTON MA 02116
Wayne R Moore director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 1931 BLACK ROCK TURNPIKE, FAIRFIELD CT 06825
George R Dunbar director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824