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Price to Free Cash Flow Screener — Find Stocks Cheap on P/FCF
Mid and large-cap stocks ranked by price-to-free-cash-flow (market cap ÷ free cash flow), cheapest first, with every row labeled by a valuation tier. Free cash flow is the cash a business actually generates — harder to game than earnings — so a low P/FCF points to real value. Pair it with the FCF Yield Screener and FCF Growth Screener to confirm the cash is durable and growing.
How to Read Price-to-Free-Cash-Flow
P/FCF answers a question the P/E ratio only approximates: how much are you paying for each dollar of real cash the business produces? It divides market capitalization by free cash flow — operating cash flow minus the capital spending needed to keep the business running. Because free cash flow is the money left over to fund dividends, buybacks, and debt repayment, a low P/FCF points to a company that generates a lot of spendable cash relative to its price.
The valuation tier badge is the shortcut feature of this screener. Rather than computing the multiple by hand, every row is labeled: Deep Value below 15×, Value for 15–25×, Fair for 25–40×, and Growth Premium above 40×. Filter by sector or tier and the labels stay put, so you can scan an industry and immediately see which names trade cheaply on the cash they actually generate.
Read the ratio with one guardrail: a single year of free cash flow can be distorted. A company that underinvests — skimping on capex — will report inflated free cash flow today at the expense of tomorrow's growth, deflating its P/FCF and making it look cheaper than it is. Always confirm the cash flow is durable and the capex is adequate before treating a low P/FCF as genuine value.
P/FCF vs. the P/E Ratio
The P/E ratio uses net income, an accounting figure shaped by depreciation schedules, accruals, and one-off charges. Free cash flow strips those away and measures the actual cash the business produces after reinvestment. When a stock looks cheap on P/E but expensive on P/FCF, it is a warning that the earnings are not fully backed by cash. When it looks expensive on P/E but reasonable on P/FCF, heavy non-cash charges may be understating the true profitability. Reading the two together is far more revealing than either alone.
When a Low P/FCF Is a Trap
A low P/FCF is not an automatic buy. The most common trap is a one-off cash figure — a year boosted by a working-capital swing, an asset sale, or deferred capex that will reverse. A second trap is a declining business: cheap cash flow that is about to shrink is not the value it appears to be. Always confirm the free cash flow is repeatable, the capital spending is sufficient to sustain the business, and the balance sheet is sound before treating a low P/FCF as a margin of safety.
Frequently asked questions
What P/FCF ratio is considered cheap?
A P/FCF below 15× — the 'Deep Value' tier in this screener — means you pay less than 15 years of current free cash flow for the whole company, which is attractive for a stable business. But a low multiple on cash flow that is about to shrink is not the bargain it looks like. Always confirm the free cash flow is durable and not the result of underinvestment before treating a low P/FCF as cheap.
What counts as free cash flow here?
Free cash flow is operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the cash a company has left after running its operations and maintaining its asset base. It is the money available for dividends, buybacks, and debt repayment. This screener uses Yahoo Finance's free cash flow figure and excludes any company with zero or negative free cash flow, since P/FCF is undefined for cash-burning businesses.
How does this screener get its data?
The screener pulls a curated list of mid and large-cap stocks across sectors and fetches each company's market cap and free cash flow from Yahoo Finance. It computes P/FCF and the valuation tier server-side, sorts cheapest first, and returns the top results. Companies with zero or negative free cash flow are excluded, and outliers below 1× or above 200× are filtered out. Data refreshes every 6 hours.
Is P/FCF better than a P/E ratio?
They answer different questions, and reading them together is best. P/FCF is harder to manipulate because it uses cash rather than accounting earnings, so it is a useful check on the P/E. A stock that is cheap on P/E but expensive on P/FCF may have earnings not backed by cash. Neither replaces the other — use both to see whether reported profits translate into real, spendable cash.
Can P/FCF be negative?
A company with negative free cash flow — spending more cash than it generates — has no meaningful P/FCF, so the ratio simply does not apply. This screener excludes any company that lacks positive free cash flow for exactly that reason. For cash-burning growth companies, use an EV/Revenue or price-to-sales screen instead, since those still work when free cash flow is absent.
How do I find the full analysis for a stock in the screener?
Click the ticker symbol to open the Basis Report stock intelligence page for that company. From there you can run a full DCF valuation, review cash-flow trends and earnings quality, see analyst ratings, and generate a complete research report. The P/FCF screener is the entry point; the full report gives you the depth to judge whether a low multiple reflects real, durable cash generation.