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DUOL (Duolingo) Free Cash Flow : $288.9 Mil (TTM As of Mar. 2025)


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What is Duolingo Free Cash Flow?

Duolingo's total free cash flow for the months ended in Mar. 2025 was $103.0 Mil. Its total free cash flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Mar. 2025 was $288.9 Mil.

Duolingo's Free Cash Flow per Share for the months ended in Mar. 2025 was $2.12. Its free cash flow per share for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Mar. 2025 was $6.08.

During the past 12 months, the average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate of Duolingo was 50.40% per year. During the past 3 years, the average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 254.50% 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 6 years, Duolingo's highest 3-Year average Free Cash Flow per Share Growth Rate was 254.50% per year. The lowest was 91.50% per year. And the median was 173.00% per year.


Duolingo Free Cash Flow Historical Data

The historical data trend for Duolingo'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.

Duolingo Free Cash Flow Chart

Duolingo Annual Data
Trend Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23 Dec24
Free Cash Flow
Get a 7-Day Free Trial 13.69 2.96 43.53 139.93 264.37

Duolingo Quarterly Data
Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24 Jun24 Sep24 Dec24 Mar25
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 78.49 53.73 51.24 80.90 103.01

Duolingo 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.

Duolingo's Free Cash Flow for the fiscal year that ended in Dec. 2024 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (A: Dec. 2024 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=285.513+-21.14
=264.4

Duolingo's Free Cash Flow for the quarter that ended in Mar. 2025 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (Q: Mar. 2025 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=105.631+-2.619
=103.0

Free Cash Flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Mar. 2025 adds up the quarterly data reported by the company within the most recent 12 months, which was $288.9 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.


Duolingo  (NAS:DUOL) 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 five years. The reason we use five years is because research shows that five years is the length of the typical business cycle.

Therefore, as of Mar25, Duolingo's Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % is

Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % (Mar25)=Normalized Free Cash Flow/Price+5-Year EBITDA Growth Rate
=0/310.54+0
=0.00 %

* 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.


Duolingo Free Cash Flow Related Terms

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


Duolingo Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
Address
5900 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, 15206
Duolingo Inc is a technology company that develops a mobile learning platform to learn languages and is the top-grossing app in the Education category on both Google Play and the Apple App Store. Its products are powered by sophisticated data analytics and artificial intelligence and delivered with class art, animation, and design to make it easier for learners to stay motivated master new material, and achieve their learning goals. Its solutions include the Duolingo Language Learning App, Super Duolingo, Duolingo English Test: AI-Driven Language Assessment, Duolingo For Schools, Duolingo ABC, and Duolingo Math. It has four predominant sources of revenue; time-based subscriptions, in-app advertising placement by third parties, and the Duolingo English Test, and In-App Purchases.
Executives
Ahn Luis Von director, 10 percent owner, officer: President & CEO, Co-Founder C/O ROOT, INC., 80 E. RICH STREET, SUITE 500, COLUMBUS OH 43215
Severin Hacker director, 10 percent owner, officer: Chief Technology Officer,, other: Co-Founder C/O DUOLINGO, INC., 5900 PENN AVE., PITTSBURGH PA 15206
Natalie Glance officer: SVP, Engineering C/O DUOLINGO, INC., 5900 PENN AVE., PITTSBURGH PA 15206
Robert Meese officer: Chief Business Officer C/O DUOLINGO, INC., 5900 PENN AVE., PITTSBURGH PA 15206
Gillian Munson director C/O XO GROUP INC., 195 BROADWAY, 25TH FLOOR, NEW YORK NY 10007
James H Shelton director 469 FLORIDA AVENUE NW, WASHINGTON DC 20001
Matthew Skaruppa officer: Chief Financial Officer C/O DUOLINGO, INC., 5900 PENN AVE., PITTSBURGH PA 15206
Stephen C. Chen officer: General Counsel C/O DUOLINGO, INC., 5900 PENN AVE., PITTSBURGH PA 15206
Sara Clemens director C/O PANDORA MEDIA, INC., 2101 WEBSTER STREET, #1650, OAKLAND CA 94612
Amy Bohutinsky director C/O ZILLOW GROUP, INC., 1301 SECOND AVENUE, FLOOR 31, SEATTLE WA 98101
Durable Capital Partners Lp 10 percent owner 4747 BETHESDA AVENUE, SUITE #1002, BETHESDA MD 20814
Newview Capital Fund I, L.p. 10 percent owner 1290 HOWARD AVE, SUITE 319, BURLINGAME CA 94010
Ravi Viswanathan 10 percent owner 1954 GREENSPRING DRIVE, SUITE 600, TIMONIUM MD 21093
Newview Capital Partners I, Llc 10 percent owner 1201 HOWARD AVENUE, SUITE 101, BURLINGAME CA 94010
Kpcb Digital Growth Founders Fund, Llc 10 percent owner 2750 SAND HILL ROAD, MENLO PARK CA 94025