Books-A-Million's total free cash flow for the
months ended in Oct. 2015 was
$-12.7 Mil.
Its total free cash flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Oct. 2015 was $4.5 Mil.
Books-A-Million's Free Cash Flow per Share for the
months ended in Oct. 2015 was $-0.89.
Its free cash flow per share for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Oct. 2015 was $0.36.
The historical data trend for Books-A-Million's Free Cash Flow can be seen below:
* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD. * For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.
Free Cash Flow is considered one of the most important parameters to measure a company's earnings power by value investors because it is not subject to estimates of Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization (DDA). However, when we look at the Free Cash Flow, we should look from a long term perspective, because any year's Free Cash Flow can be drastically affected by the spending on Property, Plant, & Equipment (PPE) of the business in that year. Over the long term, Free Cash Flow should give pretty good picture on the real earnings power of the company.
Books-A-Million's Free Cash Flow for the fiscal year that ended in Jan. 2015 is calculated as
Free Cash Flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Oct. 2015 adds up the quarterly data reported by the company within the most recent 12 months, which was $4.5 Mil.
* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD. * For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.
Free Cash Flow is very close to Warren Buffett's definition of Owner's Earnings, except that in Warren Buffett's Owner's Earnings, the spending for Property, Plant, and Equipment is only for maintenance (replacement), while in the Free Cash Flow calculation, the cost of new Property, Plant, and Equipment due to business expansion is also deducted. There, Free Cash Flow is more conservative than Owner's Earnings.
In Don Yacktman's calculation of forward rate of return, he uses Free Cash Flow for the calculation. Yacktman explained the forward rate of return concept in detail in his interview with GuruFocus. Yacktman defines forward rate of return as the normalized free cash flow yield plus real growth plus inflation.
This is what Yacktman said in his March 2012 interview - when the S&P 500 was at 1400:
If the business is stable, this calculation is fairly straightforward. For instance, on the S&P 500 we would normalize earnings. We would then calculate what percentage of those earnings are not reinvested in the underlying businesses and are therefore free. Historically, for the S&P 500, this has been just under 50% of earnings. Currently, we expect the S&P to earn about 70 on a normalized basis, a number which is far below reported earnings due to our adjusting for record high profit margins. $70 X ½ / 1400 gives you a normalized free cash flow yield of approximately 2.5%.
The historical real growth rate of the S&P 500 (companies) is about 1.5%. Assuming an inflation rate of 2.5%, the forward rate of return on an investment in the S&P 500 is about 6.5% today (2.5% free cash flow yield plus 1.5% real growth plus 2.5% inflation).
For the growth part of the Forward Rate of Return calculation, GuruFocus uses the 5-year average growth rate of EBITDA per share as the growth rate, and the growth rate is always capped at 20%. For the Free Cash Flow we use per share data averaged over seven years. The reason we use seven years is because research shows that seven years is the length of the typical business cycle.
* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD. * For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.
Be Aware
Free Cash Flow within a report period can be affected by management's decisions of capital spending. Therefore, it is important to look at long term when it comes to Free Cash Flow.
Books-A-Million Free Cash Flow Related Terms
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Books-A-Million (Books-A-Million) Business Description
Books-A-Million Inc was founded in 1917, originally incorporated under the laws of the State of Alabama in 1964 and reincorporated in Delaware in September 1992. The Company is a book retailer located in the eastern United States and operates both superstores and traditional bookstores. The Company operates both superstores and traditional bookstores. The first Superstore was opened in 1987 and operates under the names Books-A-Million and Books and Co. and 2nd & Charles. Traditional bookstores are smaller stores operated under the names Bookland, Books-A-Million and BAM. All store formats generally offer a selection of sellers and other hardcover and paperback books, magazines, toys, games, electronics and gifts. In addition to these retail store formats, it offers its products over the internet at Booksamillion.com. Its retail operations also include the operation of Yogurt Mountain Holding, LLC, a retailer and franchisor of self-serve frozen yogurt stores. It also develops and manages commercial real estate investments through its subsidiary, Preferred Growth Properties, LLC. The Company operates in three reportable operating segments: Retail trade; Electronic commerce trade; and Real estate development and management. In the retail trade segment, it is engaged in the retail sale of books, magazines and general merchandise, including gifts, cards, games, toys, collectibles, music, DVDs, electronic devices and accessories in its retail stores. In the electronic commerce trade segment, it is engaged in the retail sale of books and general merchandise over the internet. The real estate development and management segment is managed separately from the retail trade and electronic commerce trade segments, with a focus on deriving revenues through developing and leasing commercial retail real estate for purposes of earning rental income. The Company promotes its bookstores through the use of traditional direct mail, e-mail and online advertising, as well as point-of-sale materials posted and distributed in its stores. The retail book business is competitive. The Company faces direct competition from other superstores, such as Barnes & Noble, and it also faces competition from mass merchandisers, such as Wal-Mart and Costco, and online retailers, such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart. Its bookstores also compete with specialty retail stores that offer books in particular subject areas, independent single store operators, variety discounters, drugstores, warehouse clubs, mail order clubs and other retailers offering books. In addition, its bookstores face additional competition from the market for electronic books and may face competition from other categories of retailers entering the retail book market. The Company is subject to general business regulations and laws, as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet and e-commerce.
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