SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (SSNC) Cash Flow Statement

The persistent gap appears consistent with roughly $180M per quarter of depreciation and amortization, much of which stems from purchase accounting on prior acquisitions rather than cash costs, so the OCF/NI ratio should be read as an accounting phenomenon before it is read as operating outperformance. However, the wide dispersion of the ratio (1.28x to 3.39x) is also shaped by working-capital timing, meaning individual quarters may overstate or understate the durability of underlying earnings quality and warrant a multi-period view.

The margin pattern suggests the free cash flow trajectory is shaped more by billing and collection timing than by demand shocks, since first-quarter margins repeatedly retreat to the 17-18% area while fourth quarters clear above 38%. The fact that the weakest trailing quarters still convert above 17% of revenue while reported net income runs near 11-13% implies structurally durable conversion, but the volatility cautions against extrapolating any single quarter's margin as a run-rate.

A D&A-to-capex ratio near 4.6x likely reflects that a substantial share of the non-cash charge is amortization of acquired intangibles rather than physical wear, which matters because it inflates the non-cash add-back inside operating cash flow without corresponding to real asset consumption. Investors should also note that the reported capex values in 2024Q4 and 2026Q2 do not reconcile cleanly to the stated free cash flow figures, so the sign convention warrants verification against the underlying cash flow statement before the capital-intensity band is treated as precise.

The repeated fourth-quarter surpluses ($251.3M in 2024Q4 and $196.8M in 2025Q4) alongside first-quarter uses of $147.3M and $184.3M suggest a systematic collection-and-disbursement cycle around fund administration billing rather than deterioration in receivables discipline. Because these swings can move quarterly free cash flow by more than $300M, sequential comparisons should be seasonally adjusted, and investors should monitor whether the magnitude of the Q4 releases holds as a proxy for collection efficiency.

The arithmetic suggests funding for the buyback and acquisition program may have relied on incremental borrowing or cash-draw rather than purely on operating generation, which appears consistent with the elevated leverage profile noted in prior analysis. The 2025Q4 combination of roughly $1.0B of acquisition outlays and $318.7M of repurchases in a single quarter illustrates that deployment pace may be governed more by financing flexibility than by operating performance, so the repurchase run-rate is something investors should monitor if credit conditions tighten.