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FCF Growth Rate Screener — Filter Stocks by Free Cash Flow Growth
Mid and large-cap stocks ranked by year-over-year free cash flow growth. Filter by sector and growth threshold to shortlist companies whose cash generation is accelerating — the fuel for buybacks, dividends, and debt paydown — for deeper fundamental analysis.
How to Read the FCF Growth Screener
Free cash flow is the cash a business generates after paying for its operations and reinvesting in the assets needed to keep running — operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. It is the money left over to pay dividends, buy back stock, reduce debt, or make acquisitions. Because it tracks real cash rather than accounting earnings, free cash flow growth is one of the hardest metrics to fake and one of the most predictive of long-term shareholder returns.
The FCF Growth YoY column compares the most recent reported fiscal year's free cash flow to the prior year. The Free Cash Flow column shows the latest absolute figure so you can confirm the growth rate rests on a meaningful base — a jump from $10M to $30M is a 200% gain but may matter less than steady 12% growth on $5B of cash.
FCF Growth vs. Earnings Growth: Why Cash Wins
Reported earnings include non-cash items and rest on accounting choices — depreciation schedules, revenue recognition timing, one-time charges. Free cash flow strips most of that away and subtracts the capital a business actually spends to sustain itself. When earnings grow but free cash flow does not, it is worth asking why: aggressive accruals, ballooning working capital, or a capex cycle that has not yet paid off. When free cash flow grows faster than earnings, the business is often under-appreciated by a market fixated on the income statement.
One caveat: free cash flow is lumpy. A company building a new plant or data center can post negative FCF growth for a year or two while the investment pays off later. Read the growth rate alongside the capex trend and the multi-year trajectory rather than treating a single year as the verdict.
Turning FCF Growth into an Intrinsic Value
A durable free cash flow growth rate is the single most important input to a discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation. Once you have shortlisted companies with accelerating cash generation here, use the discounted cash flow guide to project those cash flows forward and discount them to a present value — turning a growth trajectory into an estimate of what the business is actually worth. Pair this with the FCF Yield Screener to find companies that are both cash-rich today and growing that cash tomorrow.
Frequently asked questions
How is free cash flow calculated in this screener?
Free cash flow = total cash from operating activities minus capital expenditures, taken from each company's most recent annual cash flow statement. The growth rate compares the latest fiscal year to the one before it. This is the standard, conservative FCF definition used in most valuation work.
Why does a profitable company sometimes show negative FCF growth?
Capital expenditures. A company can be highly profitable on an earnings basis while its free cash flow falls because it is investing heavily — building factories, data centers, or store networks. This reinvestment depresses near-term FCF but can drive higher cash flow later. Always read FCF growth alongside the capex trend and the growth story.
Should I prioritize FCF growth or FCF yield?
They answer different questions. FCF yield (free cash flow divided by market cap) tells you how much cash you are buying per dollar invested today. FCF growth tells you whether that cash stream is expanding. The strongest setups combine both: a healthy yield today with a rising trajectory. Use this screener with the FCF Yield Screener for the combined view.
How often does this screener update?
Free cash flow growth data refreshes daily using the latest available annual financial statements from Yahoo Finance. Because it is built on annual filings, the underlying figures change when companies report their fiscal-year results, not every quarter.