Profitable on the income statement, burning cash in reality
86 companies with revenue above $500m reported a profit in their most recent annual filing and negative free cash flow in the same period.
Profit is an opinion about timing; cash is an observation. Revenue can be recognised before the money arrives, costs can be capitalised rather than expensed, and both are legitimate. Free cash flow ignores all of it and asks what was left after the company paid for the assets it bought.
A gap in this direction has three common explanations, and they are not equally comfortable. The benign one is heavy capital investment: a company building capacity will out-spend its operating cash flow for years and be perfectly healthy. The second is working capital -- receivables and inventory absorbing cash as the business grows. The third, and the reason this screen is worth running, is revenue that has been recognised but not collected.
Financial companies appear here for a fourth reason that is not a signal at all: for a bank, lending activity flows through operating cash flow, so the measure means something quite different than it does for a manufacturer.
The way to tell them apart is to look at what moved. Open a company from the table and compare capital expenditure and receivables against the change in operating cash flow. Investment shows up in one place, collection problems in another.
What this is usually called
The gap between profit and cash goes by several names: low earnings quality, weak cash conversion, or a divergence between accrual earnings and free cash flow. Cash conversion is usually quoted as operating cash flow over net income, and a ratio persistently below one is the same observation this screen makes. Free cash flow here is the unlevered-of-nothing version: operating cash flow minus capital expenditure, with no adjustment for acquisitions or leases.
The question, as a query
Every figure below comes from running this against the current filings, in the same syntax the screener takes, so you can change a threshold and re-run it.
POSITIVE(net_income) AND NEGATIVE(fcf) AND revenue > 500m| Company | Revenue | Net income | Gross margin | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BABOEING CO | $89.46B | $2.24B | 4.8% | -$1.88B |
| C BankCITIGROUP INC | $85.22B | $14.31B | Unavailable | -$74.15B |
| BGBunge Global SA | $70.33B | $816.00M | 4.8% | -$879.00M |
| ORCLORACLE CORP | $67.36B | $17.09B | Unavailable | -$23.69B |
| GS Broker-dealerGOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC | $58.28B | $17.18B | Unavailable | -$47.22B |
| MOH InsurerMOLINA HEALTHCARE, INC. | $45.43B | $472.00M | 13.1% | -$636.00M |
| SMCISuper Micro Computer, Inc. | $39.06B | $2.23B | 10.8% | -$6.97B |
| CHSCPCHS INC | $35.46B | $597.92M | 3.2% | -$92.79M |
| NUENUCOR CORP | $32.49B | $1.74B | 11.9% | -$188.00M |
| DUKDuke Energy CORP | $31.74B | $4.97B | Unavailable | -$1.69B |
| ARWARROW ELECTRONICS, INC. | $30.85B | $571.27M | 11.2% | -$37.20M |
| SOSOUTHERN CO | $29.55B | $4.34B | Unavailable | -$2.94B |
| AVTAVNET INC | $27.63B | $334.39M | 10.4% | -$354.50M |
| ANAUTONATION, INC. | $27.63B | $649.10M | 17.9% | -$197.50M |
| EIXEDISON INTERNATIONAL | $19.32B | $4.46B | Unavailable | -$715.00M |
| LPLA Broker-dealerLPL Financial Holdings Inc. | $16.99B | $863.02M | Unavailable | -$981.78M |
| AESAES CORP | $12.23B | $910.00M | 18.1% | -$1.62B |
| MOSMOSAIC CO | $12.05B | $540.70M | 15.8% | -$534.60M |
| ANDEAndersons, Inc. | $11.01B | $95.71M | 6.5% | -$56.12M |
| NCLHNorwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. | $9.83B | $423.25M | 42.6% | -$1.17B |
| CNPCENTERPOINT ENERGY INC | $9.36B | $1.05B | 100.0% | -$2.38B |
| PPLPPL Corp | $9.04B | $1.18B | Unavailable | -$1.40B |
| AAPADVANCE AUTO PARTS INC | $8.60B | $44.00M | 43.4% | -$298.00M |
| SOLVSolventum Corp | $8.32B | $1.56B | 53.5% | -$10.00M |
| COHRCOHERENT CORP. | $7.12B | $805.00M | 37.5% | -$1.02B |
| NINISOURCE INC. | $6.52B | $929.50M | Unavailable | -$420.00M |
| UHALU-Haul Holding Co /NV/ | $6.04B | $83.13M | 95.9% | -$1.36B |
| EVRGEvergy, Inc. | $5.96B | $855.60M | Unavailable | -$751.70M |
| SWXSouthwest Gas Holdings, Inc. | $5.43B | $150.89M | Unavailable | -$256.66M |
| AWKAmerican Water Works Company, Inc. | $5.12B | $1.11B | Unavailable | -$1.07B |
| CG Broker-dealerCarlyle Group Inc. | $4.78B | $808.70M | Unavailable | -$3.37B |
| DFHDream Finders Homes, Inc. | $4.32B | $217.20M | Unavailable | -$126.37M |
| NBRNABORS INDUSTRIES LTD | $3.18B | $286.62M | Unavailable | -$22.68M |
| UWMC BankUWM Holdings Corp | $3.16B | $27.38M | Unavailable | -$2.72B |
| LTHLife Time Group Holdings, Inc. | $3.00B | $373.67M | 47.6% | -$20.96M |
| CTRICenturi Holdings, Inc. | $2.98B | $22.40M | 8.3% | -$8.20M |
| TTMITTM TECHNOLOGIES INC | $2.91B | $177.45M | 20.7% | -$683.00K |
| GEOGEO GROUP INC | $2.63B | $254.37M | Unavailable | -$124.90M |
| SRSPIRE INC | $2.48B | $271.70M | 58.8% | -$344.40M |
| PLUSEPLUS INC | $2.44B | $132.64M | 25.2% | -$120.66M |
Showing the 40 largest by revenue of 86. Open the full list in the screener.
What this does not show
Free cash flow here is operating cash flow less capital expenditure, both as reported. It makes no adjustment for acquisitions, leases or the structural differences in how financial companies present cash flow.
The measures behind this
Net income Free cash flow Operating cash flow
Citing this
SequelSEC, “Profitable on the income statement, burning cash in reality”, 20 September 2026. https://sequelsec.com/findings/profitable-companies-burning-cash
Figures are recomputed on every view from SEC filings, so a number quoted from this page should carry the date it was read.