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Negative cash flow getting through fcf filters?
lets make america great again
posted Jun 5, 2015

Just had a look at my transaction log and noticed some unwanted stocks slipping through.

I tried using two filters to find stocks with positive cash flow
1. (valuation.enterprise / cash_flow_statement.free_cash_flow) to calculate ev/fcf
2. free_cash_flow > 0

RAIL was purchased in may of this year and was free cash flow negative for most recent quarter and on an annual/ttm basis.

Here is a copy of my code (query includes free cash flow and ev) 

        .filter(fundamentals.income_statement.ebitda > 0) # Positive EBITDA  
        .filter(fundamentals.cash_flow_statement.free_cash_flow > 0) # Positive FCF  
        .filter(fundamentals.valuation_ratios.ev_to_ebitda < 10) # < 10 EV/EBITDA  
        .filter((fundamentals.valuation.enterprise_value / fundamentals.cash_flow_statement.free_cash_flow) < 10) # < 10 EV/FCF

Pretty confused as all the other filters worked properly.

4 responses
Johnny Wu
Jun 5, 2015

I would check this for myself but I have to get to work soon...
Did you check to see what the number actually was? Was it reported as NaN? NaN passes comparative filters like > or <.

lets make america great again
Jun 5, 2015

how do i check for nan in filters?

edit: nvm thought about how i could do it 30 seconds after posting:P

Johnny Wu
Jun 6, 2015

:) there ya go. I'm sure those that stumble on your thread will appreciate if you shared your code with us.

lets make america great again
Jun 6, 2015

sadly it didnt work and i decided to go to bed

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