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Sears Canada (Sears Canada) Free Cash Flow

: $-353 Mil (TTM As of Apr. 2017)
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Sears Canada's total free cash flow for the months ended in Apr. 2017 was $-184 Mil. Its total free cash flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Apr. 2017 was $-353 Mil.

Sears Canada's Free Cash Flow per Share for the months ended in Apr. 2017 was $-1.81. Its free cash flow per share for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Apr. 2017 was $-3.47.

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.


Sears Canada Free Cash Flow Historical Data

The historical data trend for Sears Canada'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.

Sears Canada Annual Data
Trend Jan08 Jan09 Jan10 Jan11 Jan12 Jan13 Jan14 Jan15 Jan16 Jan17
Free Cash Flow
Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -157.55 -88.30 -262.83 -173.78 -279.75

Sears Canada Quarterly Data
Jul12 Oct12 Jan13 Apr13 Jul13 Oct13 Jan14 Apr14 Jul14 Oct14 Jan15 Apr15 Jul15 Oct15 Jan16 Apr16 Jul16 Oct16 Jan17 Apr17
Free Cash Flow 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 Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -113.36 -37.31 -124.52 -7.43 -183.97

Sears Canada 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.

Sears Canada's Free Cash Flow for the fiscal year that ended in Jan. 2017 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (A: Jan. 2017 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=-258.97+-20.784
=-280

Sears Canada's Free Cash Flow for the quarter that ended in Apr. 2017 is calculated as

Free Cash Flow (Q: Apr. 2017 )=Cash Flow from Operations+Capital Expenditure
=-175.262+-8.707
=-184

Free Cash Flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Apr. 2017 adds up the quarterly data reported by the company within the most recent 12 months, which was $-353 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.


Sears Canada  (OTCPK:SRSCQ) 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 Apr17, Sears Canada's Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % is

Forward Rate of Return (Yacktman) % (Apr17)=Normalized Free Cash Flow/Price+5-Year EBITDA Growth Rate
=-0.19104762/1.05+-0.0289
=-21.09 %

* 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.


Sears Canada Free Cash Flow Related Terms

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


Sears Canada (Sears Canada) Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
N/A
Address
290 Yonge Street, Suite 700, Toronto, ON, CAN, M5B 2C3
Sears Canada Inc is in the sale of goods and services through the Company's Retail channels. It comprised of one reportable segment, Merchandising. Which includes its full-line department, Sears Home, Hometown, Outlet, Corbeil Electrique Inc. stores, and its Direct (catalog/internet) channel. It also includes service revenue related primarily to logistics services provided through the Company. Commission revenue includes travel, home improvement services, insurance, wireless and long-distance plans. Licensee fee revenue is comprised of payments received from licensees that operate within the Company stores.

Sears Canada (Sears Canada) Headlines

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