Free Cash Flow
Screener.
The free cash flow screener ranks stocks by how many years they turned sales into cash, and how fast that cash grew. It measures every large US stock we track over five or ten fiscal years of 10-K filings: years positive, compound growth, margin, capex intensity and yield. Start with a ready-made view, then fine-tune it. A good year of free cash flow is easy to find; a good decade is rare.
How it works: free cash flow is operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. Each window needs every fiscal year it names, so growth is never compared across windows of different length. Banks, insurers, other financials, real estate and utilities are left out. New to the numbers? Read how to analyze cash flow.
Reading the filings…
How it's calculated, exactly
| Part | What it is | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Free cash flow | Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures, per fiscal year. A year in which the company reported no capex is left out, not counted as zero | Cash-flow statement of each 10-K, via the 10-year financials data |
| Years positive | How many of the measured fiscal years had free cash flow above zero | The line above |
| FCF growth | A compound yearly rate between the average of the first three years and the average of the last three. Blank when the starting average is zero or negative | The line above |
| FCF margin | Total free cash flow divided by total revenue over the window | Cash-flow statement and income statement |
| Capex intensity | Total capital expenditures divided by total revenue. Under 5% is light, 5 to 15% moderate, over 15% heavy: a reading aid, not a rule | Cash-flow statement and income statement |
| Cash conversion | Operating cash flow divided by net income over the window. 100% means every dollar of profit arrived as cash | Cash-flow statement and income statement |
- Averages at each end, not single years. One boom or one write-down at either edge of the window does not decide the growth figure.
- Left out: banks, insurers, other financials, real-estate companies and utilities, the same sectors the free-cash-flow-yield list leaves out. Their cash flow comes from lending, premiums or regulated building, which this measure does not describe well.
- Needs the whole window. The ten-year view ranks only stocks with ten fiscal years of both operating cash flow and capex, so growth is never compared across windows of different length. The five-year view ranks every stock with five.
What this can't see
- Price. A great track record can already be in the price. Pair this list with the free-cash-flow yield and the intrinsic value calculator.
- Stock-based pay. Free cash flow here does not subtract shares paid to employees. Earnings Quality shows free cash flow after stock compensation.
- Maintenance versus growth spending. Filings do not split capex into the part that keeps the business running and the part that grows it, so a heavy-capex year can be an investment or a necessity.
- Working capital swings. Operating cash flow moves with receivables, inventory and payables, so one year can look better or worse than the business really was.
- Survivors only. It covers the large US stocks we track today. Companies that grew and then failed, or shrank out of the index, are not in it.
On Oct 23, 2026, 228 of the 313 stocks this site can measure had positive free cash flow in every fiscal year on file over ten years, and 109 at least doubled it. The fastest growing of the steady ones is Quanta Services (PWR), whose free cash flow grew about 42% a year from 2016 to 2025 at a 4% margin.
Which Stocks Have Turned
Sales Into Cash Every Year?
Every stock we can measure, opened on the ones that had positive free cash flow in every year on file, fastest-growing first. Pick a ready-made view, fine-tune it, click a column heading to sort, and open Details on any row for stock pay, steadiness and its sector's typical figures. Each row shows one bar for every fiscal year, so a steady climb and a lucky spike look different at a glance.
New here? Start with a view, then fine-tune it with the filters below.
Fine-tune: set your own minimums and maximums
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Why is a stock missing from the list?
Type a ticker to see whether it is measured, left out on purpose, or short of fiscal years.
Where Do Margin And Growth
Sit Across The List?
One dot per stock in the current view: free cash flow margin across, growth up, bigger dots for bigger companies. Dots toward the top right keep a lot of every sales dollar and are growing it. The colour is the capex band, so you can see who needs to spend heavily to get there.
How Do You Read
The Free Cash Flow Screener?
One number is only a starting point. These are the questions to ask of each. The full walk-through, from profit to price, is in the Cash Flow Analysis guide.
Years positive
Positive in every year is the strictest test of a steady business. One or two negative years can be a deliberate building phase, so look at when they fell: early negative years followed by a long positive run is a different story from a recent slip.
FCF growth
Free cash flow that grows faster than revenue means each dollar of sales is turning into more cash. It is blank when the company started from a loss, because a rate from zero or below is not a meaningful number.
A high rate from a small base is easy. Check it against the margin.
FCF margin
Free cash flow margin is free cash flow divided by revenue: the share of each sales dollar left after running the business and paying for its equipment.
15% or more is the high-margin filter here; the median across the list is shown at the top.
Margins differ by industry, so compare within a sector.
Capex intensity
Capex intensity is capital expenditures divided by revenue: how many cents of each sales dollar go into equipment, buildings and software.
A light business keeps most of its operating cash; a heavy one hands much of it back to its own growth. Neither is better by itself: it shows where the cash goes.
See the Capital-Light Compounders list for the profit side of the same question.
Which stocks have the longest free cash flow track records?
On Oct 23, 2026, 228 of the 313 stocks this site can measure had positive free cash flow in every fiscal year on file over ten years, and 109 at least doubled it. The fastest growing of the steady ones is Quanta Services (PWR), whose free cash flow grew about 42% a year from 2016 to 2025 at a 4% margin.
Fastest-growing free cash flow
| Company | FCF growth a year | Latest free cash flow | FCF margin | Capex intensity | Years positive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PWRQuanta Services Inc | 42% | $1.6B | 4% | 2.4% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| NOWServiceNow Inc | 38% | $4.6B | 30% | 7.5% (moderate) | 10 of 10 |
| FIXComfort Systems USA Inc | 36% | $1.0B | 8% | 1.4% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| ANETArista Networks Inc | 34% | $4.3B | 37% | 1.0% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| MPWRMonolithic Power Systems Inc | 33% | $666M | 23% | 6.3% (moderate) | 10 of 10 |
| DHID.R. Horton Inc | 32% | $3.3B | 6% | 0.5% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| CMGChipotle Mexican Grill Inc | 30% | $1.4B | 10% | 5.7% (moderate) | 10 of 10 |
| IRIngersoll Rand Inc | 29% | $1.2B | 15% | 1.8% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| WABWestinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp | 28% | $1.5B | 11% | 2.0% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| CRMSalesforce Inc | 27% | $14.4B | 26% | 2.7% (light) | 10 of 10 |
Lightest capex among the steady ones
| Company | FCF growth a year | Latest free cash flow | FCF margin | Capex intensity | Years positive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCKMcKesson Corp | 4% | $5.7B | 2% | 0.2% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| CORCencora Inc | 10% | $3.2B | 1% | 0.2% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| CHRWCH Robinson Worldwide Inc | 4% | $895M | 4% | 0.2% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| CAHCardinal Health Inc | 8% | $4.5B | 1% | 0.2% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| NVRNVR Inc | 13% | $1.1B | 12% | 0.3% (light) | 10 of 10 |
Highest free cash flow margin among the steady ones
| Company | FCF growth a year | Latest free cash flow | FCF margin | Capex intensity | Years positive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VRSNVeriSign, Inc | 5% | $1.1B | 57% | 2.8% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| AVGOBroadcom Inc | 21% | $26.9B | 42% | 1.9% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| ADBEAdobe Inc | 16% | $9.9B | 39% | 2.1% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| ANETArista Networks Inc | 34% | $4.3B | 37% | 1.0% (light) | 10 of 10 |
| GILDGilead Sciences, Inc | -4% | $9.5B | 37% | 2.5% (light) | 10 of 10 |
The list above has the five-year view, the other filters and every stock; free cash flow and capex intensity are defined in the glossary, and the Cash Flow Analysis guide walks through the five steps from profit to price.
Operating cash flow, capital expenditures and revenue from each company's 10-K filings on SEC EDGAR. Educational content only, not investment advice.
Frequently asked questions about the free cash flow screener
What is free cash flow?
Free cash flow is the cash a business generates from operations minus the money it spends on capital expenditures, the equipment and buildings it needs to keep going. It is what is left over for owners, debt holders and growth.
What does capex intensity mean?
Capex intensity is capital expenditures as a share of revenue. A software company might spend a few percent of sales on equipment, while a steelmaker or a telecom network can spend well over 15%.
Why is a stock missing from the list?
Banks, insurers, other financials, real-estate companies and utilities are left out, as are stocks that do not have the full window of fiscal years with both operating cash flow and capex on file. The footnote under the list gives the exact counts, and the five-year view includes more of the newer companies.
Is a long free cash flow track record a reason to buy?
No. It describes the past and says nothing about price. A steady cash generator can already be expensive, so pair the list with a valuation measure such as free cash flow yield before drawing any conclusion.
How do you screen for free cash flow?
Start with a ready-made view such as Steady compounders, then fine-tune the minimum margin, maximum capex, years positive, growth and yield. Rankings use five or ten fiscal years from 10-K filings, so one lucky year does not decide the order.
What is a good free cash flow margin?
There is no universal bar. This screener's high-margin filter starts at 15% of revenue, and the median across the list is shown at the top. Compare within a sector, because software and retail keep very different shares of each sale.
How many years of positive free cash flow is good?
Positive in every year on file is the strictest test and the screener's default view. One or two negative years can be a building phase, so look at when they fell and whether cash flow has grown since.
What is the difference between free cash flow growth and revenue growth?
Revenue growth shows sales rising; free cash flow growth shows how much of that turned into cash after capital spending. Free cash flow that grows faster than revenue means the business converts more of each sale into cash.
Why do software companies have lower capex intensity than industrials?
Software is cheap to copy, so it spends few cents of each sales dollar on equipment. Manufacturers, telecoms and miners must keep buying plants and networks, so their capex intensity is higher. Compare within a sector.
How is free cash flow yield calculated on this screener?
It is the latest fiscal year's free cash flow divided by today's market capitalization. A higher yield means more cash for the price, and the Screen Builder's cash-rich preset starts at 6%.
Read next
About the free cash flow screener
Free cash flow is operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. This screener measures it over five or ten fiscal years for every large US stock we track, from each company's 10-K filings: how many years it was positive, how fast it grew, what share of revenue it kept and how heavily it invested. It sits beside the Earnings Quality screener, which asks whether profit becomes cash, and the Shareholder Yield list, which asks where the cash goes. The glossary defines each term.
Educational content only, not investment advice. A long free cash flow record describes the past and does not predict it, and a steady cash generator can already be priced for it. Pair this list with the free-cash-flow yield and the Cash Flow Analysis guide.