What is Providence & Worcester Railroad Co Free Cash Flow?
Providence & Worcester Railroad Co's total free cash flow for the
months ended in Jun. 2016 was
$-0.82 Mil.
Its total free cash flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Jun. 2016 was $-4.25 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.
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Providence & Worcester Railroad Co Free Cash Flow Chart
Providence & Worcester Railroad Co 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.
Free Cash Flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Jun. 2016 adds up the quarterly data reported by the company within the most recent 12 months, which was $-4.25 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.
Providence & Worcester Railroad Co (NAS:PWX) 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.
* 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.
Providence & Worcester Railroad Co Free Cash Flow Related Terms
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Providence & Worcester Railroad Co (Providence & Worcester Railroad Co) Business Description
Providence & Worcester Railroad Co commenced its operations in 1973. The Company is a short-line freight railroad as defined by the American Association of Railroads operating in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. The Company is the only interstate freight carrier serving the State of Rhode Island. The Company services the international double-stack intermodal terminal facility in New England in Worcester, Massachusetts, a strategic location for regional transportation and distribution enterprises. The Company transports commodities for its customers, including automobiles, construction aggregates, iron and steel products, chemicals and plastics, lumber, scrap metals, plastic resins, cement, coal, construction and demolition debris, and processed foods and edible foodstuffs, such as corn syrup and vegetable oils. Its customers include Exxon Mobil Corporation, Ford Motor Company, Frito-Lay, Inc., Global LLP, GDF SUEZ Energy North America, International Paper Company, Lehigh Cement, Cargill, Inc., Northeast Utilities, Nucor Steel, Rawson Materials, Renewable Products Marketing Group, Subaru of New England, Tilcon Connecticut, Inc. and Toray Plastics, Inc. The Company competes with other carriers in the siting of new rail-oriented businesses in the region. The Company also competes with other modes of transportation, particularly long-haul trucking companies, for the transportation of commodities, and ocean-going vessels for the transportation of containers. The Company is subject to governmental regulation by the STB, the FRA, the Transportation Security Administration and other federal, state and local regulatory authorities with respect to certain rates and railroad operations, as well as a variety of health, safety, labor, environmental and other matters.
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