Cash flow analysis is impossible due to the complete absence of reported operating cash flow and capital expenditure data across all periods, masking the company's true liquidity and investment activity.
Youdao, Inc. (DAO) cash flow statement — 9-year operating, investing & financing cash flows
| Metric | TTM | Dec'25 | Dec'24 | Dec'23 | Dec'22 | Dec'21 | Dec'20 | Dec'19 | Dec'18 | Dec'17 |
|---|
| Cash from Operations | 0 | 0 | -67.91M | -438.14M | -603.12M | -1.35B | -321.56M | -372.27M | -100.33M | -87.14M |
| Operating CF Margin % | - | - | -1.21% | -8.13% | -12.03% | -33.53% | -12.73% | -30.83% | -13.71% | -19.12% |
| Operating CF Growth % | 0% | 100% | 84.5% | 27.35% | 55.21% | -318.71% | 13.62% | -271.05% | -15.14% | - |
| Net Income | 104.18M | 107.35M | 82.21M | -550.12M | -745.88M | -1.03B | -1.75B | -601.46M | -209.29M | -163.93M |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29.64M | 42.21M | 30.1M | 15.46M | 10.58M | 6.4M | 3.33M |
| Stock-Based Compensation | 25.29M | 0 | 22.6M | 30.8M | 70.71M | 72.2M | 36.42M | 25.07M | 6.18M | 5.29M |
| Deferred Taxes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8.96M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Non-Cash Items | -129.68M | -107.35M | 58.65M | 66.31M | -40.65M | -545.58M | 667.85M | 2.6M | -26.86M | 118K |
| Working Capital Changes | 0 | 0 | -231.37M | -14.77M | 70.49M | 132.19M | 712.05M | 190.93M | 123.25M | 68.06M |
| Change in Receivables | 0 | 0 | -121.85M | 25.8M | -163.47M | 24.84M | -69.21M | -122.01M | -15.52M | -20.11M |
| Change in Inventory | 0 | 0 | 24.82M | 8.71M | 20M | -146.71M | -54.65M | -52.55M | -22.29M | -1.54M |
| Change in Payables | 0 | 0 | -13.85M | -123.36M | 121.35M | 12.45M | 78.63M | 28.12M | 14.61M | 8.84M |
| Cash from Investing | 0 | 0 | -13.59M | 125.57M | 125.82M | 47.07M | 760.97M | -1.08B | -374M | -10.84M |
| Capital Expenditures | 0 | 0 | -11.79M | -17.85M | -69.76M | -64.07M | -36.85M | -18.18M | -13.96M | -10.66M |
| CapEx % of Revenue | 0% | - | 0.21% | 0.33% | 1.39% | 1.6% | 1.46% | 1.51% | 1.91% | 2.34% |
| Acquisitions | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4.22M | 0 | 41.7M | -46.89M | -2M | 276K | 0 |
| Investments | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other Investing | 0 | 0 | 42.68M | -5.05M | -24.58M | 6.49M | 925K | 2.05M | 1.98M | 70K |
| Cash from Financing | 0 | 0 | 228.51M | -18.94M | 184.65M | 1.78B | 26.56M | 1.59B | 475.12M | 107.77M |
| Debt Issued (Net) | 0 | 0 | 273.93M | 99.29M | 225.94M | 257.52M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57M |
| Equity Issued (Net) | 0 | 0 | -62.3M | -127.54M | -50.7M | 1.5B | 0 | 1.51B | 430.38M | 0 |
| Dividends Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share Repurchases | 0 | 0 | -62.3M | -127.54M | -50.7M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Financing | 0 | 0 | 16.88M | 9.31M | 9.41M | 27.56M | 26.56M | 75.64M | 44.73M | 50.77M |
| Net Change in Cash | 0 | -599.49M | 144.56M | -329.55M | -288.06M | 463.35M | 435.87M | 131.59M | 1.91M | 9.79M |
| Free Cash Flow | 0 | 0 | -79.7M | -456M | -672.88M | -1.41B | -358.42M | -390.45M | -114.29M | -97.79M |
| FCF Margin % | 0% | - | -1.42% | -8.46% | -13.42% | -35.12% | -14.18% | -32.34% | -15.62% | -21.46% |
| FCF Growth % | - | 100% | 82.52% | 32.23% | 52.29% | -293.53% | 8.2% | -241.62% | -16.87% | - |
| FCF per Share | 0.00 | - | -0.67 | -3.76 | -5.96 | -11.59 | -3.18 | -4.09 | -1.16 | -0.99 |
| FCF Conversion (FCF/Net Income) | 0.00x | - | -0.83x | 0.80x | 0.83x | 1.35x | 0.18x | 0.62x | 0.48x | 0.65x |
| Interest Paid | 0 | 0 | 94.2M | 63.36M | 39.41M | 28.57M | 28.6M | 29.79M | 28.58M | 26.85M |
| Taxes Paid | 0 | 0 | 11.67M | 12.72M | 9.41M | 9.69M | 8.37M | 4.84M | 1.74M | 3.77M |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying DAO stock.
Youdao, Inc. (DAO) generated $0.0M in net cash from operating activities in 2025. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
Youdao, Inc. (DAO) reported negative free cash flow of $0.0M in 2025, indicating capital requirements exceeded cash from operations.
Youdao, Inc. (DAO) spent $0.0M on capital expenditures in 2025. CapEx represents the cash invested in physical assets like property, plant, and equipment to maintain or grow the business.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Cash flow data unreported, masking true liquidity
Earnings Quality Unverifiable Due to Missing Data
The complete absence of operating cash flow data for all reported quarters makes it impossible to assess the quality of earnings or the relationship between net income and cash generation, a critical gap for evaluating financial health.
Without operating cash flow figures, analysts cannot determine if the reported net income, which swung from a $99.5M loss in 2024Q2 to a $73.6M profit in 2026Q2, is backed by actual cash inflows. This omission prevents any analysis of accruals or the sustainability of profitability, leaving investors to rely solely on accrual-based accounting metrics.
Free Cash Flow Trajectory Completely Obscured
The reported free cash flow is consistently zero across all ten quarters, which, given the company's revenue scale and net income volatility, suggests a fundamental data reporting issue rather than a true operational reality.
A zero FCF figure for a company generating over $1.5B in quarterly revenue and reporting net income as high as $120M is highly implausible. This pattern indicates that the cash flow statement data provided is either incomplete or not being populated, rendering any analysis of FCF margins, growth trends, or capital efficiency impossible.
Capital Expenditure Intensity Cannot Be Assessed
With capital expenditure reported as zero for every period, it is impossible to evaluate the company's investment in maintaining or growing its asset base, a key concern for a firm with a significant hardware component.
Youdao's Smart Devices segment, which includes the Dictionary Pen, inherently requires capital investment in manufacturing, tooling, and inventory. The reported zero CapEx contradicts this operational reality and prevents analysis of maintenance versus growth spending or the asset depreciation replacement cycle, leaving a major blind spot in understanding the business model's capital needs.
Cash Flow Statement Renders Analysis Impossible
The provided cash flow data, showing zero values for operating cash flow, capital expenditures, and free cash flow across all periods, fundamentally obscures the company's true cash generation, investment activity, and financial flexibility.
This data gap is the single most critical issue for fundamental analysis. It prevents verification of net income quality, assessment of capital intensity, and understanding of how the company funds its operations and growth. Investors cannot discern whether the business is self-funding, reliant on external capital, or burning through its reported cash reserves, making any valuation or risk assessment highly speculative.