More companies are disclosing free cash flow in their earnings announcements. Companies choose a range of definitions for disclosed free cash flow, none of which correspond to the theoretical definition. The most common definition (in 38% of free cash flow disclosures) is operating cash flow...

More companies are disclosing free cash flow in their earnings announcements. Companies choose a range of definitions, almost none of which correspond to the theoretical finance definition. The most common definition (in 40% of free cash flow disclosures) is operating cash flow minus gross...

Operating leverage increases profitability and reduces optimal financial leverage. Thus, operating leverage generates a negative relation between profitability and financial leverage that is thought to be inconsistent with the trade-off theory, but is commonly observed in the data. We...