The company continues to exhibit a structural cash burn, highlighted by a 2024Q3 free cash flow outflow of $13.2M and a persistent disconnect between net income and operating cash flow.
MultiSensor AI Holdings, Inc. (MSAI) cash flow statement — 5-year operating, investing & financing cash flows
| Metric | TTM | Dec'25 | Dec'24 | Dec'23 | Dec'22 | Dec'21 |
|---|
| Cash from Operations | -8.12M | -8.02M | -15.57M | -4.55M | -3.17M | 4.41M |
| Operating CF Margin % | - | -144.48% | -210.31% | -83.81% | -43.62% | 15.33% |
| Operating CF Growth % | -38.04% | 48.48% | -242.06% | -43.56% | -171.83% | - |
| Net Income | -8.89M | -11.71M | -21.5M | -22.27M | -13.29M | 2.31M |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 1.4M | 1.3M | 1.14M | 872K | 561K | 318K |
| Stock-Based Compensation | 704K | 1.67M | 3.38M | 14.06M | 644K | 972K |
| Deferred Taxes | -46K | -47K | 62K | -72K | 1.2M | -505K |
| Other Non-Cash Items | 554K | 627K | 6.21M | 4.75M | 1.72M | 809K |
| Working Capital Changes | -1.85M | 149K | -4.86M | -1.89M | 6M | 506K |
| Change in Receivables | -2.77M | -847K | 1.56M | -928K | -211K | 3.55M |
| Change in Inventory | 910K | 135K | 256K | 372K | 284K | 298K |
| Change in Payables | -557K | -263K | -1.48M | -14K | 461K | 775K |
| Cash from Investing | -1.05M | -1.61M | -2.67M | -1.51M | -1.6M | -1.41M |
| Capital Expenditures | -1.07M | -1.63M | -2.67M | -1.54M | -1.6M | -1.41M |
| CapEx % of Revenue | 17.13% | 29.38% | 36.03% | 28.4% | 22.01% | 4.91% |
| Acquisitions | 20K | 24K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Investments | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other Investing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30K | 0 | 0 |
| Cash from Financing | 26.89M | 29.58M | 21.59M | 6.56M | 2.05M | -4.04M |
| Debt Issued (Net) | 0 | -172K | -1.14M | 2.62M | 2.05M | -3.99M |
| Equity Issued (Net) | 27.18M | 30.87M | 22.73M | 6.29M | 0 | 0 |
| Dividends Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -53K |
| Share Repurchases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Financing | -292K | -1.12M | 0 | -2.34M | 0 | 0 |
| Net Change in Cash | 17.71M | 19.96M | 3.35M | 501K | -2.72M | -1.04M |
| Free Cash Flow | -9.19M | -9.65M | -18.23M | -6.09M | -4.77M | 3M |
| FCF Margin % | -146.61% | -173.86% | -246.34% | -112.21% | -65.63% | 10.42% |
| FCF Growth % | 58.62% | 47.07% | -199.26% | -27.74% | -259.05% | - |
| FCF per Share | -9.85 | -10.34 | -36.25 | -38.95 | -15.96 | 10.03 |
| FCF Conversion (FCF/Net Income) | 1.03x | 0.68x | 0.72x | 0.20x | 0.24x | 1.91x |
| Interest Paid | 0 | 0 | 63K | 52K | 29K | 2K |
| Taxes Paid | -27K | 0 | 2.33M | 6K | 33K | 4.62M |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying MSAI stock.
MultiSensor AI Holdings, Inc. (MSAI) generated $-8.0M in net cash from operating activities in 2025. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
MultiSensor AI Holdings, Inc. (MSAI) reported negative free cash flow of $9.7M in 2025, indicating capital requirements exceeded cash from operations.
MultiSensor AI Holdings, Inc. (MSAI) spent $1.6M 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
Persistent negative cash burn
Metrics are mathematically derived from official filings.
Earnings Quality Remains Severely Disconnected
According to the provided quarterly financial data, MSAI exhibits a persistent disconnect between net income and operating cash flow, with OCF/NI ratios frequently deviating from parity, suggesting that reported losses do not fully capture the underlying cash consumption required to sustain the company's current operational footprint.
The volatility in the OCF/NI ratio, which has swung from 0.05 to 1.55 across recent periods, indicates that accruals and non-cash adjustments are masking the true intensity of the cash burn. Investors should interpret this divergence as a sign that the company's accounting earnings are not a reliable proxy for its actual liquidity requirements.
Free Cash Flow Trajectory Deteriorating
As reported in financial statements, MSAI's free cash flow remains consistently negative, with quarterly outflows reaching as high as $13.2M in 2024Q3, underscoring a structural inability to generate self-sustaining cash flow despite the company's transition into a public entity and its focus on industrial AI solutions.
The persistent negative FCF margins, which have frequently exceeded -100%, suggest that the business model is currently capital-intensive without the requisite scale to achieve break-even. This trajectory warrants further investigation into whether the company can reach a cash-flow-positive state before its current liquidity reserves are exhausted.
Working Capital Volatility Signals Instability
Based on MSAI's reported figures, working capital changes have been highly erratic, swinging from a $7.3M outflow in 2024Q3 to a $2.8M inflow in 2024Q1, which suggests significant instability in the company's ability to manage its cash conversion cycle and inventory levels effectively.
These sharp fluctuations in working capital appear to be driven by the lumpy nature of hardware sales and potential delays in project-based revenue recognition. Such instability complicates cash flow forecasting and may indicate underlying challenges in aligning inventory procurement with actual customer demand.
Hidden Cash Costs Obscure Reality
Analysis of the cash flow statement reveals that stock-based compensation and other non-cash charges, such as the $13.8M recorded in 2023Q4, significantly distort the company's true cash burn profile, making it difficult for investors to assess the actual cost of maintaining the current workforce and infrastructure.
By stripping out these non-cash items, the true operational cash drain appears even more pronounced than the headline net income figures suggest. This reliance on non-cash compensation to manage the P&L may be masking the true economic cost of talent acquisition in a competitive AI-focused industrial market.