Operating cash flow is heavily reliant on non-cash stock-based compensation, which totaled $59.2M in 2027Q1, masking the underlying operational cash burn and resulting in volatile free cash flow.
C3.ai, Inc. (AI) cash flow statement — 8-year operating, investing & financing cash flows
| Metric | TTM | Apr'26 | Apr'25 | Apr'24 | Apr'23 | Apr'22 | Apr'21 | Apr'20 | Apr'19 |
|---|
| Cash from Operations | -153.18M | -188.78M | -41.41M | -62.36M | -115.69M | -86.46M | -37.55M | -61.28M | -34.88M |
| Operating CF Margin % | - | -75.43% | -10.64% | -20.08% | -43.36% | -34.21% | -20.5% | -39.12% | -38.07% |
| Operating CF Growth % | -637.7% | -355.93% | 33.6% | 46.1% | -33.81% | -130.24% | 38.72% | -75.71% | - |
| Net Income | -446.41M | -470.37M | -288.7M | -279.7M | -268.84M | -192.06M | -55.7M | -69.38M | -33.35M |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 10.2M | 13.55M | 12.61M | 12.72M | 6.09M | 5.19M | 4.3M | 1.3M | 550K |
| Stock-Based Compensation | 203.99M | 0 | 230.99M | 215.76M | 216.54M | 113.44M | 21.74M | 8.31M | 4.27M |
| Deferred Taxes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.02M | 0 |
| Other Non-Cash Items | 55.61M | 261.76M | -10.3M | -16.37M | 2.68M | 5.79M | 3.13M | 2.4M | 534K |
| Working Capital Changes | 23.44M | 6.27M | 14M | 5.23M | -72.17M | -18.81M | -11.03M | -4.93M | -6.88M |
| Change in Receivables | 19.13M | 36.49M | -9.12M | 4.52M | -54.52M | -14.16M | -34.69M | 32.66M | -46.14M |
| Change in Inventory | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -6.86M | 0 | 0 |
| Change in Payables | -3.43M | -9.44M | 3.63M | -12.88M | -22.04M | 34.48M | 7.45M | -1.22M | 48K |
| Cash from Investing | 121.61M | 75.08M | 16.4M | -66.61M | 59.95M | 317.01M | -767.15M | -124.07M | -96.23M |
| Capital Expenditures | -1.16M | -1.91M | -3.04M | -25.26M | -70.52M | -3.79M | -1.63M | -2.3M | -6.81M |
| CapEx % of Revenue | 0.5% | 0.76% | 0.78% | 8.13% | 26.43% | 1.5% | 0.89% | 1.47% | 7.44% |
| Acquisitions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 89.42M |
| Investments | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other Investing | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.75M | -1M | -500K | 0 | -581K | -89.42M |
| Cash from Financing | 87.06M | 15.54M | 22.22M | 11.29M | 621K | 5.71M | 887.36M | 119.85M | 54.47M |
| Debt Issued (Net) | -2.74M | -1.44M | 450K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26M | 0 | 0 |
| Equity Issued (Net) | 88.51M | 16.98M | 31.3M | 24.51M | 7.56M | 5.82M | 851.86M | 115.65M | 51.57M |
| Dividends Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share Repurchases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -15M | 0 | -3.55M | 0 |
| Other Financing | 1.3M | 0 | -9.53M | -13.22M | -6.94M | -105K | 9.49M | 4.2M | 2.9M |
| Net Change in Cash | 55.49M | -98.16M | -2.79M | -117.68M | -55.12M | 236.26M | 82.65M | -65.5M | -76.63M |
| Free Cash Flow | -154.33M | -190.69M | -44.45M | -90.37M | -187.21M | -90.75M | -39.18M | -64.16M | -41.69M |
| FCF Margin % | -66.41% | -76.2% | -11.42% | -29.1% | -70.17% | -35.91% | -21.39% | -40.95% | -45.51% |
| FCF Growth % | -79.75% | -329.04% | 50.82% | 51.73% | -106.28% | -131.63% | 38.93% | -53.91% | - |
| FCF per Share | -1.00 | -1.36 | -0.34 | -0.76 | -1.70 | -0.87 | -0.69 | -0.67 | -0.57 |
| FCF Conversion (FCF/Net Income) | 0.35x | 0.40x | 0.14x | 0.22x | 0.43x | 0.45x | 0.67x | 0.88x | 1.05x |
| Interest Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Taxes Paid | 386K | 0 | 920K | 975K | 578K | 939K | 5K | 660K | 131K |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying AI stock.
C3.ai, Inc. (AI) generated $-188.8M in net cash from operating activities in 2026. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
C3.ai, Inc. (AI) reported negative free cash flow of $190.7M in 2026, indicating capital requirements exceeded cash from operations.
C3.ai, Inc. (AI) spent $1.9M on capital expenditures in 2026. CapEx represents the cash invested in physical assets like property, plant, and equipment to maintain or grow the business.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Liquidity crunch from cash burn
Metrics are mathematically derived from official filings.
Earnings Quality Masked by Non-Cash Charges
The persistent gap between net losses and operating cash flow is almost entirely explained by stock-based compensation, which reached $59.2M in 2027Q1, suggesting the underlying business generates minimal cash from its core operations.
The company's operating cash flow has been volatile, swinging from positive to negative quarters, but the OCF/NI ratio is consistently negative and far from 1.0, indicating that net losses are not translating into operating cash generation. The primary reconciling item is stock-based compensation, which is a non-cash expense that inflates operating cash flow relative to net income. This dynamic means the reported operating cash flow is not a reliable indicator of cash generated from selling software or services, but rather a reflection of the company's equity-based compensation structure.
FCF Volatility Reflects Operational Instability
Free cash flow has been erratic, ranging from a positive $21.3M in 2024Q4 to a negative $56.2M in 2026Q3, with the most recent quarter showing a slim $2.1M positive FCF that appears unsustainable given the underlying operating losses.
The FCF margin has been deeply negative for most of the past two years, with the recent positive quarters (2025Q1, 2025Q4, 2027Q1) appearing as anomalies driven by large working capital inflows rather than operational improvement. The trajectory shows no consistent path to positive, self-sustaining free cash flow. The negative FCF in quarters like 2026Q3 (-$56.2M) is more representative of the company's cash consumption profile, as it aligns with the period of severe revenue contraction and negative operating leverage.
Working Capital Swings Drive Cash Flow Illusions
Quarterly working capital changes have been the primary driver of operating cash flow volatility, with a $34.7M inflow in 2027Q1 masking the underlying cash burn from operations.
The company's cash flow from operations is highly sensitive to changes in working capital, particularly deferred revenue and accounts receivable. The large positive swings in 2027Q1 ($34.7M) and 2025Q4 ($33.0M) suggest the company may be collecting cash upfront on new contracts or experiencing delays in payments to suppliers. However, these inflows are inconsistent and do not represent a sustainable operational cash generation model. The negative working capital changes in other quarters (e.g., -$29.5M in 2025Q2) indicate that the business can quickly consume cash when collections slow or payables accelerate.
Minimal Deployment Amid Cash Preservation
Capital deployment has been negligible, with no dividends, minimal buybacks, and zero acquisitions, indicating a strategy focused solely on preserving the dwindling $66M cash balance.
The company has not returned any capital to shareholders via dividends or meaningful share repurchases. The only notable deployment was a small $2.8M acquisition in 2024Q4, which has not been repeated. This pattern suggests management is conserving cash to fund operations and avoid a dilutive capital raise. The lack of strategic acquisitions or investments also implies that the company is not in a position to pursue growth through M&A, further highlighting its constrained financial flexibility.
Cash Flow Statement Obscures True Burn Rate
The cash flow statement obscures the true economic cost of the business by adding back $59.2M in stock-based compensation in 2027Q1, a non-cash charge that nonetheless dilutes shareholders and represents a real economic cost.
While operating cash flow appears positive in some quarters, this is largely an artifact of adding back non-cash stock-based compensation. The true cash burn, when considering the dilutive impact of SBC, is significantly worse than the headline operating cash flow suggests. Furthermore, the company's capital expenditures are minimal (e.g., -$8K in 2027Q1), which may indicate underinvestment in long-term assets or infrastructure, potentially masking future maintenance costs. The cash flow statement does not capture the full economic reality of the company's cost structure, particularly the high fixed costs in R&D and sales that are not fully reflected in the cash flow from operations.